Staying at Disney, Visit Universal for Potter?

[HairyChest]

I have a disney vacay in october coming up. Im debating on visiting universal for potter either 1 or 2 days. Any tips?
Is 1 day enough? Should i visit potter in the beginning middle or end of my trip?
Or should i do less days at the disney hotel and stay onsite at universal for that part of the trip (i kind of dont want to because im staying at the grand and love the disney bubble)

 

[bumbershoot]

I personally would stay at Universal b/c their hotels are awesome and their benefits for staying there beat out WDW's benefits by far. For me. IMO. And I don't seem to need a bubble. In fact a bubble bugs me. I like having real life all around; heck, we go to Weight Watchers meetings while on Disneyland and WDW trips! Talk about real life!

When we first went to Orlando, we knew we would like WDW enough that we bought DVC before going there. (I'm not a huge fan of the Grand Californian, so we didn't buy there and we didn't buy for stays at DLR...I'd be happier at the bright and cheery Motel 6 (said to be the best of its chain) near Disneyland over being in a small and dark and dim room at GCH, but I digress) We knew we wanted to try Universal too. This was December 2010, Wizarding World was new, and that's why we went.

Well, we went for WW, but we gave it a real shot, figuring that it might surprise us. So we chose to stay onsite there. For 4 nights. And didn't regret it. When the time came for us to leave, we stayed and stayed and stayed before finally dragging our feet to go back to WDW, to Jambo, which we ended up disliking quite a bit.

So, obviously, I say to give it a really good shot, let the place surprise you, stay onsite at Portofino Bay (our fave) or Hard Rock (our least fave), or Royal Pacific, enjoy the unlimited Express Pass you'll get from the stay, and enjoy the early entrance to Wizarding World (unknown how it will work with Diagon Alley).

 

[abdgeek]

There have been a couple of threads on this that you may want to check out. Some people recommend staying at the Universal hotels because you get free font of the line passes(3 of the 4 hotels) and early entry to Potter. Someone else mentioned that they book a US hotel for one of the nights they have a Disney reservation. They then get up early to check in at US to take advantage of early entry and then come back the next night to their WDW room. So for one nights room, they get two days at US.

 

[mevelandry]

The Universal Hotels are awesome and the offer of early entry for Wizard World of Harry Potter is a great perk!

I love the Universal bubble as well.

 

[TheEmpress]

Okay, so as much as I am a Disney Freak... I LOVEEEE Harry Potter and I hope this information will help you make the decision to spend a day or two at Harry Potter, or go on an actual Universal Trip.

Every time we go on vacation, we always stay at Disney. We love the transportation, the food, the Disney vibe etc. However, we always take a day and rent a car and head over to Universal for Harry Potter World. Since Hogsmead and the Castle are in IOA (Island of Adventure), we only had to buy that park ticket. The first time I went, we spent 6 hours just in Harry Potter. I wanted to see it all and ride the rides multiple of times.

For our second go around, We stayed in Harry Potter for about 4 hours and we were able to actually do more in IOA. Those park tickets are not cheap, so I wanted to atleast get my money worth. Keep in mind, both times, we have not yet completed the ENTIRE park of just IOA. Usually we leave about 6 or 7 to go back to Disney so we can catch the fireworks or go eat because we have the Disney Dining Plan!

However, for our upcoming Trip in December, we are going to have to make sure we are at the gates for when Universal opens. The company strategically put Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. That means we are going to have to buy BOTH IOA and Universal Park tickets to see ALL of Harry Potter and ride the Hogwarts Express. We priced them out and it will be about 350-400 dollars for just two of us for 1 day!

I would recommend if you Do go like we did and just visit, do it during a week day and not a weekend. It might be a little less crowded.

Hope this helps with your decision making!

 

[HotMama]

I want in on this thread also! We are planning on doing Universal in the middle of our next stay. Keep the tips/advice coming!!!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

It's not going to make any difference whether you go at the beginning or end of your stay unless there is something specific going on that you are looking at for WDW. Like if you were there at Epcot food & wine and your trip began on a Wednesday and ended on a Sunday, then I'd want to be at the festival on Weds. or Thurs. but not necessarily Friday or Saturday so I'd do Universal then. Even though there would be a possibilty that Universal too would be more crowded on the weekends.

An onsite stay at Universal is great if you want the express pass advantage (remember that Cabana Bay doesn't include it) but keep in mind that it probably won't be accepted at least for Gringotts, since it is still not accepted for Forbidden Journey. What would help for those would be early entry for resort guests on the 2nd day. And you might want it if you intend to knock out all the other attractions at Universal within a couple of days. You need dual park tickets if you want to ride the Hogwarts Express and those won't come cheap for a short stay.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My husband and I were just talking about this the other day. He's been to Universal (specifically for Harry Potter) but not with all the new stuff (due to open July 8th). I have not been there and I would like to go, really just to see the Harry Potter stuff. A one day ticket to get into Universal is $136. You would have to weigh the cost and pro's/cons to either just going for one day or staying at one of their hotels, which as others mentioned gives you early entry into Harry Potter. My brothers and law and his kids went and stayed at Universal and said the early entry was well worth it, but he was there strictly for Universal and didn't have any other plans (like WDW). My husband said there isn't a lot at Harry Potter but what they've done is well done. Otherwise he said there were just a lot of roller coasters. That's just his opinion.

 

[BP Roo]

Our last time at Disney, my gf and I did the two-day two-park ticket with Mears transfer to go to Universal. We splurged a little bit for front-of-the-line passes, but stand-by lines were relatively light (except for Forbidden Journey) when we visited on a Sunday and Tuesday in mid-May . This was in 2012, so there have been quite a few attractions added since then.

The tickets with transfer cost us $160 or somewhere around there three years ago, not including front of the line passes. It looks like the cost has gone up a bit since. Dreamsunlimited lists them at $220 per adult.

 

[wen8jr]

If you like HP, you will love the detail at Universal...it is really pretty amazing.

We love Universal even without HP. That being said I won't go unless we are staying onsite as that is a big part of the appeal for us. The resorts are deluxe and they are all right there next to the parks (walking or boat ride distance). The biggest plus is the onsite unlimited guest express pass as it can't be beat, you will be completely spoiled. Although it doesn't include a few of the rides, you do get early entry for Harry Potter (note that the newest HP rides may not have early entry for your dates - we don't know yet how this will play out in the long run).

I would suggest 2 days (one for each park) so you don't feel rushed.
We just feel super laid back and enjoy it thoroughly over 2 days with express pass.

We've done Universal as the second half of our trip in the past, but our upcoming trip (in Oct. as well) we are doing Universal first so I'm curious to see how that works for us for a split stay.

A few tips if you go and/or are staying onsite:

If you just do one day and don't stay onsite - look at the universal crowd calendars and pick a weekday so you can get more done. And arrive early.

HHN will be going on in Oct. and crowds could increase on the weekends or on other HHN nights (I think Thursdays are the other night) and park hours are different for the HHN nights. The HHN calendar is available on Universals website and so are the park hours. HHN is a separate hard ticket price similar to MNSSHP, you can do a stay and scream ticket for a pretty fair price.

It is always cheaper to book your room directly with Loews and buying tickets separately rather than doing any of the "package" deals.

You can stay 1 night onsite but actually get 2 full days of express pass if you check in early enough to enjoy the 1st day. You can check in very early, leave your bags, get your "room key" and go to the parks and use express pass. We've done this a couple of times we've stayed.

Look into the price of an annual Power Pass for at least one person in your party (noting blackout dates) to see if that makes sense for you as a lot of the time the hotels have great AP discount rates and the Power Pass qualifies. These rates come out about 2-4 months in advance for future dates (Oct. has some showing right now). It is always a good idea to check this out if you are staying for 2 or more nights as it can save you money. You can even book as APH without buying the pass first by calling Loews or going to their website and using the APH code - you can buy the pass later if the math makes sense so you have it during check in. If you have an annual pass you can get a discount when purchasing additional tickets - so that is something else to check out as well before buying all your tickets.

Royal Pacific is very nice and it is a very good value for a deluxe category hotel (comparable to Disney deluxe). Portifino is our favorite and is the most expensive... but for a very short trip I would probably choose Royal Pacific. Hard Rock is closer to the parks but it doesn't appeal to us and we haven't stayed there, so I can't comment on it.

The only downside to onsite are the parking/resort fees added daily to the rate, I think it is about 22.00 now but I figure I would have to pay for parking anyway if I didn't stay onsite so the cost is a write off for me.

There are some great restaurant choices at the resorts and City Walk. You can reserve a table for Mythos as well as some other restaurants via Open Table. We enjoy the food choices at Uni better than WDW overall.

Try a Butterbeer, they are surprisingly good!!!

Other things that we never miss: The Simpsons, Transformers, The Mummy, Spiderman - all very cool rides experiences but not really "thrill" rides.

Enjoy your WDW and/or Uni trip!!

 

[wdw4rfam]

We always go to universal for 2-3 days during our trips to Disney. We stay at Disney, because we go in September and they give us free dining, so that's a perk enough for us, even on universal days because we have a dinner booked for the evening after we get back. We always go to universal mid week and have never needed the express passes, even the year that the original Harry Potter opened. The express passes aren't good on anything Harry Potter anyways. If you are mainly going for Harry Potter you may be able to do it in one day, but to try and do it all, 2 would be good, but definatly go midweek if you can.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

My husband said there isn't a lot at Harry Potter but what they've done is well done. Otherwise he said there were just a lot of roller coasters. That's just his opinion.

Hogsmeade is 2 themed coasters (3 if you separate the dragons), one of them a kiddie coaster, and Forbidden Journey which is not a coaster but is not a tame ride either.

Gringotts is a coaster and it sounds like it will have screen elements like Forbidden Journey. Is Diagon Alley going to have anything else that can be called a "ride?"

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

We also LOVE the Disney bubble but we really enjoy our time at Uni. It can also feel like a Uni-bubble if you stay onsite at one of their deluxe resorts. Because you love the GF, I highly suggest staying at PBH. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this hotel.

We prefer to stay at PBH at the end of our WDW trip as it is more relaxing and less planned. We use a car service to take us from WDW to PBH and then again from PBH to MCO. We enjoy the boat ride from the hotel to the parks/Citywalk.

I would suggest at least 2 days but preferably 3 at Uni. We are actually staying GF 6 nts and PBH 7 nts this summer. We are always wishing for more time at PBH and we are finally taking the leap. We are also adding a day at SW for the first time and a pool/resort only day.

Staying onsite makes it more relaxing and gives you the FOTL access to make the trip more relaxing. The food is great both in the parks and at the hotels. PBH is a beautifully themed resort with nicely appointed rooms and gigantic bathrooms! The room service is wonderful. The restaurants are great. We enjoy getting food delivered to us by the pool. Sal's is great for a quick breakfast in the morning or yummy pizza for dinner. We also enjoy eating outside at Trattoria on the piazza at dusk. The setting is lovely and the singers on the balcony add that extra touch making it an experience instead of just a meal.

I cannot comment on RPH or HRH as we have not stayed at either for various reasons. I can understand you wanting to commute from the GF but I think you would miss out on a new vacation experience.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't get a chance to read all the replies, but we'll be doing WDW 11/14-11/19, and then checking into Universal's Royal Pacific Hotel 11/19-11/22. We got a great room rate through AAA and I'll buy the 3 day park-to-park pass from Undercover Tourist. We chose to do it like this because we get the unlimited express pass by staying at the Royal Pacific in addition to the early entry at Islands of Adventure.

Our plan is to do City Walk the night we check-in, IoA the next day with early admission, Universal Studios the day after, and then we leave late on our last day so we'll have time to re-visit our favorite attractions on this day. This plan also gives us time to enjoy the resort's pool which looks awesome, and take advantage of some character breakfasts that are offered. Even though I cringe at the thought of cutting the Disney part of our tripshort, I think this allows us to best experience Universal.

 

[Mrs. Toaster]

We have done it both ways, and both worked just fine for us! The first time we did Harry Potter, we were staying at Disney, but had a rental car. We just used the navigation on our cell phones and had no problem getting there. We also did not have long waits, as we went during an off season time.

The second time, we stayed at the Royal Pacific and we loved that too! It's a pretty hotel, and we although we did not really need them, we did use the Front of Line passes. So, either way is doable!