Stay 1 night or not? WWYD

[Goofy&Sleepy]

I got tix years ago ($79 adult/up to 5 days w/KIDS FREE both parks --pre HP & yes, I've called & they are good). Girls 7 & 10 . 10 yr old HUGE HP fan. Going in a few weeks w/SIL& nieces (one under 5). Going on Thurs. 5/31 & TRYING TO decide if we want to add a day to our trip & pay Friday night ($250 w/AAA discount) & spend most of Friday (w/o SIL & her kids) & get up & go back Sat. til noon before driving home (we do this when we do WDW so no big deal). WIll be at WDW the week before as DVC members. Kind of a lot of $$ for 1 night BUT you do get their express passes for both Fri. & Sat. Afraid we won't get to do much of US Thurs. & I don't want girls to miss anything & WANT to go back to the "darkside" anytime soon. Are meals going to cost us a fortune at US? Would DD7 enjoy a lot of the things at US? She doesn't do thrill coasters. Think we could eat a few more meals in the room & budget our Disney time in order to do this. It is our big vacation for the summer. WWYD???

 

[damo]

I would stay onsite for the one night. It is a huge advantage especially when you are planning on going on Friday and Saturday which are the busiest days. The early admission lets you get most of Wizarding World done with very few people in the area and is wonderful in itself. Doing Ollivander's first is a must and is very exciting if one of your kids get picked.

Eating is about the same as at Disney. You can check through the menus sticky on the main Universal board and see where you can save some money. Sal's Deli at Portofino is really budget oriented and delicious.

There are lots of things for a 7 year old to do. Take a look at all the rides at www.universalorlando.com

 

[anorman]

When in doubt, stay! FOTL access alone makes it worth it for your park experience. Also, the counter service food is not overly expensive at Universal; I think Disney is much more pricey in this area. Spend the extra $$$, you won't regret it!