So torn! Is it worth taking a day away from WDW to go over to Universal?

[d-train]

I have taken a day for uni on two different trips. The first was when only the first HP section was open. Paying for entrance into the one park was almost worth the extra cost to us, but just almost. The second time, both side of HP were open, requiring the two park pass. While the HP stuff was amazing, the rest of the parks were so over crowded, so hot, so much trash everywhere, so many rude guests, so many cranky employees, I could go in and on, it was far from being worth it to take a day away from WDW. Not only were we out a significant amount of cash for a sub par experience, we were out a day at WDW.

Don't do it. If your kids really want the universal experience, plan another trip, stay there for the perks, and make it a several day deal. No chance once day will cover a portion of the two parks...just like at WDW.

 

[zebsterama]

Don't know if spending $800 for one day makes sense ... but come to think of it, I spend that in a day at Disney World!

Diagon Alley and Hogwarts are magical ... we're doing 3 days Universal, 7 days DW, and 4 days on Disney Magic ... so we are big big Disney fans.

That being said, I don't think there's a more immersive experience than Diagon Alley - especially in the evening. I'm not even a huge HP fan - but Wow!

One of the things I'm looking most forward to is: enjoying an ice cream, walking around Diagon Alley at night, and taking in the vibe.

Not sure if that helps sway you one way or the other ...

 

[AJA]

We love HP and Universal. Yes HP is really amazing! But not $750 extra on a 4-5 day trip.

I would wait and plan a split stay for your next visit. A couple days in your favorite Disney parks and at least two days at Universal. The hp isn't bad unless you are prone to motion sickness. By your next trip I'm sure your boys would love them. When my daughter was 8 her ride limit was Big thunder railroad and HP Forbidden journey was fine for her.

 

[100acreHiker]

Thanks everyone! If we do decide to squeeze in a day to go over (or even stay for a night), we'd have to move our early December trip up to early November/Veterans Day, which I think means we'd have higher crowds at WDW, right? We did spend a night at the Hard Rock Hotel this year to see the Blue Man Group, but we never went into the park. Everyone says how much they like the Uni resorts over Disney's deluxes, but honestly we didn't love it. No balcony and no window to open made me feel very closed in, especially because they sprayed a ton of air freshener that gave me headaches--we were so happy to head over to Beach Club after that night and sit on a balcony overlooking Crescent Lake. I guess I'm just a Disney gal! But with the HP play coming out and the new movie in the fall, I know my older son will be interested. I wish money were not an issue because I'd just go for it, but $750 (plus wands!) is a lot for us right now.

 

[mellyf]

We're in a reverse situation. My son and DIL decided to go to Universal at the end of August. (We went for a 4 day trip in January, 2015 and loved it, after being Disney people for the last 20 years.) They asked if we'd like to join them, and after some thought (I teach school, and will have only been back to school for 2 weeks so will have to take 2 of my 3 personal days) have decided to go. They're going from Saturday-Thursday; we'll be going from Friday-Tuesday. Unexpectedly (and very happily), my stepson and his family have decided to join us. They live in NJ, we live in Illinois, so we don't see them very often, so this is awesome. However our granddaughters are 2 1/2 and 7. So we're debating doing a day at MK. About $800 for all of us. As much as I'd love taking the girls to MK, I'm thinking they will be ones who will really be happy spending time at the resort pool. Plus, I really don't think most of the family (except for my husband and me) are rope drop people...so we'd probably be getting there at 10-11 at best.

We're staying at Sapphire Falls, because my DIL really wants to see what the new resort is like (even though I never thought I'd stay at a Universal Resort without Express Pass). It's become really apparent to me how few rides there are for little kids though. I think our older granddaughter will be fine, height-wise, but obviously not our younger granddaughter. We're looking at it more as just being able to spend time with our family, even if quite a bit of that is around the resort pool (Sapphire Falls is supposed to have an amazing pool area), as opposed to getting on as many rides as we can.

As much as I love Universal and highly recommend it, that's a lot of money to spend. We may change our minds once we get down there, but I think we're going to pass on an MK day.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Thanks everyone! If we do decide to squeeze in a day to go over (or even stay for a night), we'd have to move our early December trip up to early November/Veterans Day, which I think means we'd have higher crowds at WDW, right? We did spend a night at the Hard Rock Hotel this year to see the Blue Man Group, but we never went into the park. Everyone says how much they like the Uni resorts over Disney's deluxes, but honestly we didn't love it. No balcony and no window to open made me feel very closed in, especially because they sprayed a ton of air freshener that gave me headaches--we were so happy to head over to Beach Club after that night and sit on a balcony overlooking Crescent Lake. I guess I'm just a Disney gal! But with the HP play coming out and the new movie in the fall, I know my older son will be interested. I wish money were not an issue because I'd just go for it, but $750 (plus wands!) is a lot for us right now.

We have stayed at all of the Universal deluxes, and no one in my family (including two teens) liked Hard Rock. Not really sure why - seems like they would be the target demographic - but the room was set up oddly and the bathroom was small. The location is very good, though, and the pool was fun but shallow. Our favorite is Portofino, although it is the farthest from the parks. We also like Royal Pacific - rooms are about the size of the moderates (maybe a little larger), but the theming is nice and the service is wonderful. The front of the line access can't be beat, though, and Disney can't compete with that perk. I would definitely recommend a Universal trip - it can be every bit as immersive as Disney, but going for one day would be expensive and you would miss a lot of Universal's charm.

DH and I went for one day before the kids were born - it was crowded and we had no idea about the onsite resorts. I think we waited in line 45 minutes for everything. We weren't in a hurry to go back, but we also hadn't done the appropriate research for Universal. We have been back several times (before and after HP), but we stay three or four days and always stay onsite. It is the most relaxing, least stressful part of a trip to Orlando. I find the guests and team members to be just as pleasant at Universal as at Disney, and the Universal parks are as well-maintained as the Disney parks. I do think Universal has more for teens and Disney has more for preschoolers. When my youngest DD was 3, it was hard to fill full days at Universal, although her older sister found plenty to do. But we had some fun times at the pool that trip!

 

[svecchitto]

We did it last September and to be honest it was a mess! We were traveling with extended family who went to universal early. My daughter got sick on our character breakfast day so we could only bump it to that day so we didn't get to the park until a little later. The lines to get in were crazy at that point! We met up with family and tried to hit up the big rides. They had a great time early in he morning but we had to wait a lot! Then add on rider swap because we were with a toddler.... She barely got to do anything and I felt horrible! All the Harry Potter stuff was awesome I'm glad we saw it, but in hindsight it was way too costly and hectic and i would wait until my daughter could experience more. Alternatively we did this on another trip a few years prior before the second Harry Potter extension and it was just my husband and I and it was perfect! We did 2 days though and Halloween horror nights. That trip was a long trip we were there 10 days. In the end I would save the money for another trip where you could focus more time and ride more of the thrill rides.

 

[qv09vvp]

ya'll are making re-think this. Hubby & I are going to the world in mid December. we are staying at POp with the free dining plan. We had planned to jump to Universal 2 days. Huge harry potter fans. big movie fans. medium tolerance on thrill rides. I'm trying to do a touring plan to figure out if 1 or 2 days is going to be right amount of time. I should mention, if we do 2 park to park passes we were considering getting an annual pass because are planning a longer trip in 2017 with the both kids & their significant others. I'm wondering if we should just skip US all together & wait to go with the whole family next time... thoughts?

 

[100acreHiker]

I asked DH if he had a strong opinion and he said he would prefer to skip Universal, so it lokos like we're not going to do it. If we had more time and more money, I'd make a point to go, but at this point, we'll be ok and happy not making it over, I guess...

 

[mom2rtk]

I asked DH if he had a strong opinion and he said he would prefer to skip Universal, so it lokos like we're not going to do it. If we had more time and more money, I'd make a point to go, but at this point, we'll be ok and happy not making it over, I guess...

Now hide the internet from him so he can't see footage of the new Kong ride!

 

[Kate'sDad]

ya'll are making re-think this. Hubby & I are going to the world in mid December. we are staying at POp with the free dining plan. We had planned to jump to Universal 2 days. Huge harry potter fans. big movie fans. medium tolerance on thrill rides. I'm trying to do a touring plan to figure out if 1 or 2 days is going to be right amount of time. I should mention, if we do 2 park to park passes we were considering getting an annual pass because are planning a longer trip in 2017 with the both kids & their significant others. I'm wondering if we should just skip US all together & wait to go with the whole family next time... thoughts?

I personally would do it. If you are Harry Potter fans then you will absolutely love those 2 areas. We are Disney people and I think nothing Disney has done comes close to the theming of the Harry Potter lands. You can probably hit some highlights all in one day but 2 days would give you the ability to be a bit more relaxed about it and enjoy more of the rides. We did it with an 11 year old and a 6 year old and we got both Harry Potter areas done (skipped the re-tread coasters and focused on shops, wand store, HP Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, and Hogwarts express), Rip Ride Rockit, Hulk, Mummy, Simpsons, Seuss Land, Minions, Transformers, and Spider Man done in 1.75 days (left early on day 2 because the kids were exhausted). That was all without Express Pass. This year we are doing 2.5 days and staying onsite to get Express pass and do multiple rides of all the thrill rides and hit the HP stuff during the early entry.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Depends on each family - that's a personal choice.

For my family - no. DW gets motion sickness and almost every ride in Universal would make her sick. Although I like HP, I just don't have enough at Universal to attract me for the cash it would take.

However, as I said every family is different. I know some who are huge Universal fans and it's right for them.

 

[mevelandry]

We go to WDW a lot because (like most folks here) we love it. I am taking my mom and boys down this fall, either in Nov or Dec. We are not thrill ride people, so we won't do any roller coasters. The only appeal for us to go over to Universal for a day is to see the Harry Potter stuff. My boys (10 and 7) LOVE HP, but I'm not even sure they are game to do some of the intense HP rides like Forbidden Journey. We'd do the train and Ollivanders and a few of the tamer rides, but mostly we'd just take in the Wizarding World. It would cost us about $750 for that single day, not to mention we'd miss a day of MK or EP (this is only a 4-5 day trip). Not a big deal, as it will be a 4th Disney trip for us, but still. Additionally, if we make time to go to Uni, we have to travel in November, the final week of the Food and Wine fest, which will be more crowded than if we go for a short WDW-only trip, in which case we'd go the first days of December.

Any folks here have advice and thoughts if going to take in the Wizarding World will rock my kids' world enough to justify the cost and change in dates to make it happen? How awesome is it?

Universal is amazing. I'm just a "moderate" fan of Harry Potter and I cried when I saw Wizarding World and tried the Forbidden Journey attraction (it's not that intense). The immersion is fantastic.

You really should visit both parks, though. It's worth it. Park-to-park comparison, we prefer Universal parks' to Disney's.

 

[Loopster]

Just did one day at both universal parks with DD 10 at the beginning of our 10 day Disney trip (DH and DS 5 stayed back at WDW that day). While I thought HP stuff was great (and we are both huge HP fans), all I could think about was how it just didn't feel like Disney and wanted to get back to my Disney bubble. Gringotts and Forbidden Journey were fun, but it was a one and done thing for me. Yes, the theming was great, but that can only entertain you for so long. Did all of HP, plus other rides that were on our list in both parks and we were done by 5:00. I didn't think it was worth the money and it's less than half of what you'd be spending.

I personally wouldn't take a day away from Disney on a shorter trip, maybe give it a try on a longer trip.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

We wouldn't do it. Not only for the money but mostly the time away from Disney. We take a Non Disney week about every forth trip to FL. So we go to Busch Gardens, Sea World and Universal (we try and stay @ Universal to take advantage of the unlimited express pass). Take yourself a separate relaxing week vacation to do Universal.

 

[cheshiregirl]

We are going to Universal for the first time on our trip this fall and doing a split trip. After a 5 day sprint through WDW (first trip to FL in 5.5 years) where we are doing one of the last MNSSHPs on our first day and then spending 1 day each in the 4 parks, I am really looking forward to spending 3 days exploring the Universal resort and parks. We are staying at RPR so we will have Express Pass and I expect to be able to experience favorite attractions multiple times along with taking advantage of the reciprocal pool privileges at the resorts.

 

[Alice777]

We were in WDW this April, stayed at POP, and took 2 days to do Universal. Both days we took uber and it was supper easy and cost one way was less than $20. Pick up in front of Pop and drop off in front where taxis/drop off area. Pick up was little more hectic because there was so many people waiting to be picked up.

Glad we did 2 days at Universal (bought park hopper) but it was just too crazy/crowded at the Potterland. Lines for the rides was manageable but just walking around the park was so crowded. Rest of the park was not as crazy. Both days, we were there at the rope drop so we were able to cover everything.

We are going back to WDW this November and chose not to go back to Universal.

Eventhough uber was easy, I think the only way we would do it again is if we were staying at the Universal property.

 

[dwheaton]

Setting aside the money, I think it's definitely worth going to Universal. Your kids are old enough to do enough rides to make for a good day. Islands of Adventure in particular is also very well-themed and enjoyable to walk around.

In terms of the money, that's a trickier question. That amount is tough to spend for one day anywhere, even Disney.

 

[Sparkly]

It's a great park and I love love love the HP lands, but not for $750. I would hit Universal in its own trip and keep this one just Disney.

 

[mickeygirl78]

We are going to do one day at Universal during our upcoming September trip. Universal is not somewhere we would want to go on vacation to. I'm also not willing to give up more than one of our Disney days for it. We are going to Disney for 15 nights (10 park days) so it's one of our waterpark days we are giving up to go to Universal. The kids really want to see the Harry Potter stuff. Yes it's going to cost a lot of money but we want to try it once. It's been about 15 years since we did a one day Universal visit, so it is time. Only you can decide if it's worth it. For us, my father is the one who is buying the tickets cause he really wants to bring his grandkids there. We'll take a taxi and get there at opening and stay til close. We are buying the park to park ticket. I know we won't do everything but I think we'll get enough in to make it fun. Good luck on your decision.