Split stay Disney and Universal

[Hobbes]

Anyone do these-we were looking at a 3/10 split next time.
How do you book it? Via Virgin etc in bits? The last couple of holidays have been at WDW so we used their travel company but I'm not sure how they will take to us booking a holiday through them with a couple of days gap between the flight and the hotel...

 

[Jon84]

You can book the whole trip with Virgin Holidays, you can also book just part of it, and book your own hotel direct.

There are things that affect the Disney part, like your dining and tickets don't start till your hotel stay.

Worth a call though.

In 2014 we did one week at Disney and flights booked with VH, then booked direct for the other hotel we wanted to stay at.

 

[Hobbes]

Thanks for the speedy reply. At the moment we are only at the "Wouldn't it be great..." stage but I do think its something we will do next time, whilst we are still young enough to do Universal without putting ourself in hospital! (last year we did one day commando and I couldn't walk, stand, sit or bend by the time we left!) DH is particularly taken by the Lazy River at a Universal VALUE resort!

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

We have got one day booked at Universal in October before our WDW stay... we booked flights with Virgin, WDW with WDW directc, and Universal with Universal direct. I'm speechless about how much the Universal part cost just for one day and night!!! I'm going to be the commando queen of the world to make sure we get our money's worth!!!

 

[saintrob]

We do this all the time but book everything direct. We usually book flights with Virgin Atlantic either direct to Orlando or via Atlanta depending on price. The Disney part is booked through the USA site as we are annual pass holders so take advantage of the good discounts. The USA site can still be accessed by anyone and can often work out cheaper than the UK site. We also book Universal direct through their USA site too. We always book our tickets through their USA site as we're then able to buy only for the days we need and not the 14 day UK pass. If you do intend to stay at Universal I'd recommend one of the three hotels which offer the front of the line access to take full advantage of the all the attractions. Royal Pacific is a really nice hotel.

 

[Jon84]

We have got one day booked at Universal in October before our WDW stay... we booked flights with Virgin, WDW with WDW directc, and Universal with Universal direct. I'm speechless about how much the Universal part cost just for one day and night!!! I'm going to be the commando queen of the world to make sure we get our money's worth!!!

Universal is outrageously over priced for both the hotel and park tickets. If you think about what you get for the money.

A 14 day ticket makes it better value, but I don't wanna go to Universal for 14 days!

 

[Diz22]

We do this almost every year and in different ways depending on if we have AP's at Disney.
This year we have booked an entire package 4 nights at royal Pacific followed by 14 nights animal kingdom lodge with free dining and park tickets.
Flights with Lufthansa via Frankfurt.
I added the 14 day universal ticket bought in the U.K. It works out cheaper than buying from a US site, although prices have risen in the past 2 years.
I am registered with the US universal site and receive details of special offers including park admission. These tend to come out about a month in advance - not great if you're a planner. I have booked direct with universal in the past and found them helpful in trying to find a good deal.
Staying on site at certain hotels will give you the express pass which, to me, is essential at certain times of the year. That is regardless of where you buy tickets.
Disney travel will book your flights for any duration you request, so you can book a Disney package with free dining etc but arrive before or leave after those dates.
When we use our DVC I will book flights myself either with the airline or with someone like Expedia where you often get a great deal inclusive of the universal hotel. They do tend to change from day to day so if you see a good price jump on it quick and don't look again.
Hope this helps.

 

[marcais]

Is there a similar forum to this one for Universal?

 

[wilma-bride]

We are doing that this year, staying at Royal Pacific Resort for 3 nights. We booked everything individually as we always do - we will be using our DVC at WDW. We booked the Universal part through hotels.com on the Tesco Clubcard site, using Clubcard Boost vouchers (3 x value).

I always search on www.kayak.co.uk for the cheapest flights but will only book direct with the airline or via a trusted 3rd party like Expedia or ebookers.

 

[jackieleanne]

We do this all the time when we go since 2012. Usually I book it all myself and have done Universal first then the rest of the time at Disney. This year however we will be doing 5 nights in disney then 3 at Universal then back to Disney for 10 nights. We don't drive in Florida so this for us means that we can use the Magical Express. I booked Universal on Travel Republic and the Disney stays are via DVC Poly and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Staying at Royal Pacific Resort for the Universal stay, the express passes you get with the stays at Hard Rock, Royal Pacific and Portofino are amazing.

 

[peajay18]

We done this a few times too. Firstly we book our flights with VA - we earn miles every way you can, so we get a least 1 reward flight each time. You have to be flexible with your dates, but it works for us.
We usually book a minimum of 5 nights at Disney with Disney UK to get any free dining offer - we only pay the deposit at this point.
We then book 3 nights at Universal direct with them (we are currently Annual Passholders so we get a good rate 3 or 4 months out on the 3 deluxe hotels with the Express Pass included).
Then we use David's DVC to book a DVC room at Boardwalk/Yacht Club/OKW etc for another 4/5 nights. Doing it this way allows us to stay at resorts that might otherwise not fit our budget. YYou have to pay this in full at time of booking.

 

[Ailsa]

We did this last October and it actually worked out cheaper for us to book the whole holiday at Animal Kingdom (good early deal plus free dining plan, car hire etc) as a package and then book Hard Rock Hotel via Trivago (sounds like a waste but it was cheaper!). We got free Universal fast passes for staying there which meant the room paid for itself. It depends on the deals around at the time but another way we've done it is to book flights and hotel for part stay only via expedia then either use DVC points or trivago for the remainder of the stay. I have always found Virgin quite expensive.

 

[LanaBear-ox]

I booked directly with Disney which was 8 nights at POFQ, booked flights seperately (it was cheaper as we had a stopover as well) and then went on bookings.com for 5 nights at Royal Pacific. I'd do it again but found when I was looking for package deals Virgin was a lot more money but then you factor in your any direct flights, car hire etc which we didn't have.

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

We booked direct with Disney for resort and park only, when their offer came out for this year, last year. It was way too early to book flights. The plan was to go back and add flights when they came available. After that we thought wouldn’t it be nice to have a couple of nights at Universal. So we went to Virgin and as we were booking accommodation we were able to get the flights as a package deal, earlier than flight only prices and at a good price too. Never done it before, but it was very easy.