Split Stay - Universal On Site and Disney On Site

[Aby]

Hi all, and thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.

I am in the midst of planning a trip for late November/early December 2010 (yes...I am waaaaay early!).

It will just be my husband and I (early to mid 30's), and we were planning on going for 12 nights total to see all that we want to see.

We want to see all 4 Disney parks, both Universal parks, SeaWorld and Discovery Cove, and possibly Busch Gardens.

We are definitely going to stay on resort at Disney for at least part of the trip with the Deluxe Dining Plan, but we are wondering if it would save a lot of hassles to stay on resort at Universal for part of our trip to take advantage of the perks and make transportation easier (we do not want to rent a car - that would mean at least 4 round trip shuttle/taxi trips to the parks outside of Disney).

Do you think that a split stay between Universal and Disney would be the best way to go? Or is it really not that bad to do all that shuttling back and forth between the parks during that time of year?

My husband and I absolutely ADORE the disney dining plan, and I'm worried I"ll miss that for the Universal part of the trip if we stay at their on-site resorts.

Would love to hear your thoughts on such a stay.

Thanks!

~Aby

 

[macraven]

In 1992-3-4, i stayed at disney and did day trips to universal.

my children and i got tired of the car rental, lost time in the parks, etc, so we started to do split stays.

from then until now, i stay onsite in a disney resort for the beginning of my vacation, take car service and move to the universal on site hotels for the end of my vacation. All together i stay between 13 to 15 days at the hotels.


i really like it that way.
i feel like i am taking two separate vacations.......

 

[Metro West]

from then until now, i stay onsite in a disney resort for the beginning of my vacation, take car service and move to the universal on site hotels for the end of my vacation. All together i stay between 13 to 15 days at the hotels.

Speaking for Orlando residents...we appreciate your patronage!

 

[Darcy03231]

Here's another vote for a split stay. I would also do the US/IOA portion after the WDW portion. Once you experience the unlimited Express Pass for US/IOA hotel guests you'll hate waiting in line at WDW.

 

[macraven]

that's why i save the best for last.........

 

[akdeputydog]

We're first-timers and are going in about 4 weeks but I can tell you we are doing the split-stay....on-site at both and am very excited about it. My vote is split-stay.

 

[mapmakerj]

Split stay! We are doing this exact thing in June. Onsite for 8 nts. at Disney and then onsite for 7 nts at Universal. The best of both worlds! ( and by moving to the RPR, we get FOTL for a week!)

 

[keishashadow]

def doableharder w/o a car though imo, my vote would be to have it @ least one leg of trip (WDW to U, then MCO return), there is a parking fee @ U onsite hotels

on-site WDW is great for EMHs & the dining, was going to try the deluxe plan myself this time; felt we could stretch it out easily for extra day/signature venues, yet our plans changed.

i can't imagine visiting U w/o the FOTL perc, it is that great; try & schedule it after disney or you'll find urself grumbling in line there. Don't forget u get the perc both day of & checkout date. Note that the weekend hours @ U were much shorter than Disney's MK went we last went 1st weekend of Dec.; who knows what this year will bring

If u go to the seaworld ticket site, i know they have tix that include complimentary bus to BG, can do combo tix SW too. I believe the U tix is less expensive bought separately from the combined tix (multi-pass?) they sell.

transportation board would be able to give u heads up as to taxi/mears from WDW to U, which i believe still has complimentary shuttle to SW

 

[Aby]

Thanks for all the opinions guys! I really appreciate it.

I was actually thinking of doing the Universal leg first, simply because we have never been there before. I was thinking that if we really enjoyed it there and wanted to spend extra time, we can shuttle over from disney. If we went 2nd, we might be disappointed that we couldn't do more with the extra days.

Are the lines really that long in early Dec? I read that it was the slowest, so I was thinking they wouldn't be bad at all.

~Aby