Split Vaca Disney/Universal Question

[MerriH807]

I have our family vaca planned for Disney in August, 7 days 6 nights. some members of our group of 8 adults and 3 children have expressed interest in visiting universal. Here is my question, should we check out of our disney hotel and go over to universal for a night or two OR shoukd we just stay at the disney resort and get transportation somehow to universal for the day?
thanks in advance
Merri

 

[Darcy03231]

I would check out and get a hotel on-site at US/IOA for a night or two. One of the biggest perks of staying on-site is each person gets unlimited Express access to the ride lines (kinda like fastpass). It saves so much time over standing in line, especially since you're going during the summer months.

 

[WillCAD]

Although an on-site stay at Uni will get you front of the line access, and all 3 Uni hotels are fabulous places (equal to Disney Deluxe level hotels or better), it's not strictly necessary to stay on-site.

When I go to Orlando, I almost always stay at a hotel in the WDW area, sometimes on-site and sometimes not. But I always have a rental car, so I simply drive up to Uni on my Uni days. The drive is about 20-30 minutes, depending on route and traffic.

If you don't have a rental car, transportation could be an issue, especially if you're going to Uni for several days, but moving to a Uni resort for just one or two nights will also cause some issues, since you'll have to move all of your luggage up there, and the Uni hotels can be quite expensive.

It may be easier to simply rent a car from the Car Care Center or Swan and Dolphin (Alamo or national) for a couple of days. Daily rental rates are generally less than $30 a day, so your total for two days rental might be $60-$90 with taxes and fees. The lower cost of staying in your Disney resort the whole time instead of moving to the costlier Uni hotels for one or two night could more than pay for the cost of a two-day rental car.

 

[3mmm]

We go to Universal first for two nights. I pack a separate suitcase for those days for clothes and put all the toiletries in a smaller suitcase (so it's not too heavy) which we use at both hotels. I don't really unpack at Universal.

Advantages:

1. We get the Express advantage of being on property

2. We then use remote baggage checkin at our Disney hotel - that's why we do Universal first

For us, it's worth changing hotels, and I have five small children, so it is a big deal. Waiting in long lines is worse. Plus being on site we have split up and brought the younger kids back to the room earlier

But to each his own. This is what works for us

 

[Planogirl]

It's just me and a teen so we stay offsite and visit whichever park appeals to us that day (unless we have something special planned). We find that if we get there early and plan our day well that we don't need Express.

That said, Express is nice and I mean NICE. The Loew's hotels are also extremely nice and well worth the money IMO.

 

[re121258]

Besides the front-of-the line perk, we like staying at the onsite hotels for the close proximity to the parks. It makes it very easy to hop back to the hotel in the middle of the day for break at the pool or a nap. And the pools at all of the hotels are great. Also, with the hotels being so close it makes it easy for a large group to split up if they wish, some may wish to stay in the parks and some head back to the hotels.

Also, I recommend doing Universal after Disney. It is much more relaxing, less rushed. And if you do stay on site with FOTL you will be spoiled and the lines at Disney later will seem longer. IMHO

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

We always do a split stay. We stay at Disney first, then pack up, and go and
check into our Universal Hotel, usually the Hard Rock

Once you experience the Express Pass, you can't do Disney after Universal
The difference in the lines is awesome

 

[tlinus]

We always do a split stay. We stay at Disney first, then pack up, and go and
check into our Universal Hotel, usually the Hard Rock

Once you experience the Express Pass, you can't do Disney after Universal
The difference in the lines is awesome

us too!