Tips on doing both Disney and Universal?

[sersee05]

Hey guys... We are trying to go to both parks this trip since I have two kids that like the thrill rides and one that doesn't. Plus my kids have never been to Universal.

We are renting a condo in paradise palms and staying for a week. We thought about two days in Universal and 4 in disney .

UT has a 3 day hopper plus 1 day free for the five of us at $1724. Then we thought about doing a two day base for ..$708 I think it was.

But this is without express pass which i am really afraid we might need first week in August?

Someone mentioned to me it might be worth it to check in and spend one night onsite at Universal...having a two day park to park ticket and then I would get the express pass with it. I don't know if that is worth it though.


Does anyone have any tips to do both parks without breaking the bank? or do you really have to choose Disney or Universal?

 

[RMulieri]

Doing both is costly.No way around it.First week of August will be very busy.It can be done without express if you know going in that you will need to be there well before park opening, have a plan and be prepared to wait in lines.Honestly, I would do one night at a Unviersal deluxe resort if you can afford it.It gives you early entry on both check in and check out day( helpful for the Harry Potter stuff since the majority does not take express pass) and it also gives you the express passes for check in and check out day.If you stay at the moderate, Cabana Bay, it only gives you early entry.If you are AT ALL interested in riding the Hogwarts express, you WILL need the Park to PArk tickets.Single park tickets will not allow you on that ride

 

[sersee05]

We are coming in on a Saturday... maybe I can find a cheaper condo to offset the extra $319 at royal pacific. Then buy the 2 day park to park with the hotel for Sunday to Monday. So I could check in sometime Sunday and get my tickets with express? Or would I be able to get those sooner? Have Sunday at the park , stay over sunday night and check out Monday. I would still have Monday at the park. Would they give me express passes for both parks with that scenario?

 

[glocon]

Yes- you get express pass and early entry on both check in and check out day. And the ep is unlimited!

If you check the price of one day unlimited, or even one day one time per ride ep, and multiply that by the amount of people that are in your party, you will see the value of staying onsite to have the unlimited ep that comes with staying in one of the deluxe resorts.

And an AP is not that much more than a 4 day pass. Only one of the people in the room has to have an AP for the room discount.

An ap also gets you discounted tickets for the other people in your group. And discounts at the stores and restaurants.

 

[sersee05]

ok..forgive me.. I just figure out Disney recently...Universal ..not so much.

So one person can buy an Ap pass and then get the other 4 discounted tickets and a discounted room?

Do I need to buy the room and tickets off of Universal together to get the park to park express. Or can I book a room and then buy the tickets separate? Will they give me express when I check into hotel?

lets say I want to stay Monday night. I go Monday morning and go to the park. I would have to check in the afternoon most likely since that is the way with most hotels. Will they still give me the express pass to use even without my room being ready? Then I can go to Park Monday ..check out tuesday but still use my second day and ep to finish out the day and head back to my condo?


Im trying to figure out the most economical way to do both. And I have been working on this and crunching numbers all day...so it isn't sinking in so well...hahha

 

[sersee05]

Also...has anyone gone on hotwire and got a good rate on a deluxe? Can you do this and then add tickets and ee?

 

[bumbershoot]

Express pass comes with the room, no matter how you got it.

 

[glocon]

ok..forgive me.. I just figure out Disney recently...Universal ..not so much.

So one person can buy an Ap pass and then get the other 4 discounted tickets and a discounted room?

Do I need to buy the room and tickets off of Universal together to get the park to park express. Or can I book a room and then buy the tickets separate? Will they give me express when I check into hotel?

lets say I want to stay Monday night. I go Monday morning and go to the park. I would have to check in the afternoon most likely since that is the way with most hotels. Will they still give me the express pass to use even without my room being ready? Then I can go to Park Monday ..check out tuesday but still use my second day and ep to finish out the day and head back to my condo?

Im trying to figure out the most economical way to do both. And I have been working on this and crunching numbers all day...so it isn't sinking in so well...hahha

* Yes, only on person needs an AP to get the AP discount on a room and tickects. If you look on the UO website under tickets, you can get the lowdown on annual passes and what they include.

* You do not need to get a package, you can get a room separate from tickets, it is usually cheaper that way.

* When you check into hotel, you will then proceed to the ep kiosk to take pictures for your ep which you will receive right away then. You can check in as early as you want, even early enough to get early entry. Your room most likely will not be ready, but you can leave your luggage with bell services then hit early entry at the parks with your ep.

* When you check out the next day, you can once again leave your luggage with bell services and hit the early entry with your ep's.

Hope that answered all your questions.

 

[johde]

Also...has anyone gone on hotwire and got a good rate on a deluxe? Can you do this and then add tickets and ee?

I haven't heard of anybody "happening" upon a Universal Deluxe hotel by booking a generic 4* hotel on Hotwire any many years. You would most likely need to book a hotel where you can see the name to be sure of getting an onsite deluxe.

 

[TravelMommy]

We now do one or the other. Disney tickets to go from 4 to 5 or 5 to 6 or 6 to 7 days....... is a few bucks, much better pp then having to spend another 2K for additional tickets for a few days. I could never justify this additional cost and that is how we can save $$$$$.

 

[sersee05]

Yea...I know its probably designed that way . But I don't see spending a week at universal. Isn't it more of a 2-3 day park? I guess they got me....haha. The hotels are @$300 per night. So I. Don't know if I can justify that for express.. ugh.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We always do both, we stay on site at Disney and do one day at US/IOA, we have never needed a EP, however we have been there Feb., April, Oct. and Nov. We get there at park opening and do all the HP stuff then to other attractions we like. One day has been enough for us do what we like. I am sure in the summer it is really busy and with the new DA/Gringotts it will be really busy. We have had to give up on some of the rides because the waits did get up to 60-75 minutes, however we have been satisfied with what we do during our day. There are quite a few rides you can do single rider on and that works as well, cuts down wait time by a lot. We do this as well, however my kids are teenagers so they are old enough to go in the single rider line and I don't worry.

 

[sersee05]

I have s 17 year old that would do single..but not sure on my 12 and def. Not my 9.

We are going first week in August. But, none of us are hp fans so that isn't important to us...so maybe that will help?

I don't know what da or gringott is?

My ds9 wants all the nick stuff. My dd17, 12 want to go to all the big roller coasters.


Can I add ep at the gate if I think its necessary? What if I go the first day..and then decide second day I want ep?

The problem is the ages. Dr 17 and 12 want thrill rides. Dr17 still loves Disney. Dd12 thinks its too young for her. Ds9 is afraid of coasters and likes dis.

I loved universal when I went but I also am not a big coaster fan..

Sooo this is why we want to combine..lol

 

[bumbershoot]

Yea...I know its probably designed that way . But I don't see spending a week at universal. Isn't it more of a 2-3 day park? I guess they got me....haha. The hotels are @$300 per night. So I. Don't know if I can justify that for express.. ugh.

Eh, our last trip we spent 8 nights on-site. If my son and I hadn't caught what we have deemed the January plague, which caused us to lay around in bed moaning and crying (me) and coughing most days, it would have been an incredible trip. We are big re-riders and we just love BEING there, so for us, 3 days is way too short.

For the future, looking for hotels earlier might get you better rates. Might not. For future trips, you might bookmark this site to easily check rates!

We are going first week in August. But, none of us are hp fans so that isn't important to us...so maybe that will help?

I don't know what da or gringott is?

My ds9 wants all the nick stuff. My dd17, 12 want to go to all the big roller coasters.
l

Diagon Alley and Escape from Gringott's. The new "land" and the new big ride in that land. Both in the Studios park (not the Islands of Adventures park). Both are Harry Potter. If you really don't want to see that stuff, yes, you'll likely have a better time.

But you do know that that whole area JUST opened, so there are a whole lot of HP fans out there, making the parks even busier than a normal summer, yes?

Remind me of the Nick stuff your son wants? For some reason I'm not remembering much Nicolodean stuff.

I would have to check in the afternoon most likely since that is the way with most hotels. Will they still give me the express pass to use even without my room being ready? Then I can go to Park Monday ..check out tuesday but still use my second day and ep to finish out the day and head back to my condo?

IT was already said, but to say it again, you can do the checkin process at about 6am if you want to. You get your express pass right after that (you have to have the room key, which you will get even if your room isn't ready) and can head to the parks! And yes, even on checkout day it will still all work.

 

[sersee05]

hahah....goodness . It just shows you how long ago I went to Universal! Apparently there isn't any Nick stuff anymore Oh well...I did read that a 9 year old could still have fun there and there are some areas he would be able to ride. Im going to have to go look at the whole list of rides.


I didn't know that the new HP land just opened this summer. I knew Hp is a big draw. I guess my dreams of hoping everyone wants to go on Hp so other areas won't be as busy has gone down the tubes... But it does concern me that it might not be such a fun trip without express.

I think if I would have known more about Universal..I could have planned a tad bit more ahead...but not much since this is all last minute. Things just worked out so we could go on vacation. I have five people and we all like different things but Disney/Universal was something everyone was on board with. So I am just trying to do the best I can in a short period.... I even checked dining ressies to make sure I could get dining reservations this late and to my shock..there was a lot available. Maybe everyone is at Universal


Lets say I do a 2 day base plus a day "free". If I buy express pass..at $89 is that just for the one park? If I do the park to park option..the express pass is still for one of the parks? Universal does allow me to add the unlimited express pass (I think). I guess I need to price these options and see which is cheaper..

Again , the Universal part is new to me . I just finally starting understanding how Disney works and now I am a rookie again.

 

[schumigirl]

Yea...I know its probably designed that way . But I don't see spending a week at universal. Isn't it more of a 2-3 day park? I guess they got me....haha. The hotels are @$300 per night. So I. Don't know if I can justify that for express.. ugh.

Oh you won't regret it if you do

It's definetely not just a 2-3 day visit for us. We are staying 18 nights this year.......never get bored, we do re-ride our favorites.

If you stay longer it means you don't need to try and do the parks commando style........take your time and enjoy everything they have to offer and you get to spend time enjoying the resort too. That's what we do, never spend a full day in any park but don't miss anything. But we also have a car every year and spend time around Orlando and further afield (not Disney though)

Have fun deciding what to do

 

[sersee05]

Where do you stay?

 

[schumigirl]

Royal Pacific Resort......every year!

Don't want to stay anywhere else while we are in Orlando

 

[macraven]

Royal Pacific Resort......every year!

Don't want to stay anywhere else while we are in Orlando

same here.
but i don't stay as long as schumi.
only have 12 days for the fall visit.

never run out of things to do while at the darkside.

we all do our vacations differently and i make mine a totally relaxing one.

 

[parboy]

For booking room at royal pacific, I used cheaptickets.com and got 20% off of the already reduced rate.

We used to do both Disney and Universal all in the same trip. It can be done, but we have done both many times and know what we want to see/do and can get it done quickly. Our usual plan was to stay on site at Disney from Sun-Thurs. We would spend Sun, Mon, Tues at Disney and drive over to Universal on Wed. That worked ok when we were just doing the studio side at Universal. When we started wanting to do both IOA and US, one day was really not enough time. We could get it done, but it was moving at a quick pace.

The last time we went to Orlando, we decided to switch and stay on site at Royal Pacific and drive to Disney. This worked out better as we could get all the benefits of EE and unlimited express pass as well as the fast pass at Disney which of course doesn't require staying on site (at least prior to FP+).

This trip coming in a few months for us will be our first time to visit and just do Universal and we are excited about being able to slow down and really enjoy the parks and resorts and dining at a slower vacation type pace. It's nice to not have to worry about booking dining reservations and FP+ times months in advance. We can ride whatever, whenever and do the same with our dining!