Too expensive for this family!

[Planogirl]

If going to WDW for several days, it's much cheaper to go an extra day to a WDW park than to buy a 1 day ticket to UO... and vice versa. I would love to mix my trips with both WDW and UO but it just doesn't make sense to me.

We do it by going to parks for 8-9 days and buying mega-day passes for both resorts. I don't buy hoppers for WDW and some days we visit both a Universal park and a Disney park. Parking gets expensive but other than that there is no real big extra cost since we have our own car. I don't mind the drive either.

 

[braddillman]

I find the sliding scale both parks use prohibitive to visiting both parks in one vacation. For example, 2 adults and a 12 year old would still be $260 for one day at WDW. For my family of 5, it would be $428 for one day at WDW.

We always do all disney, or no disney. It's usually no disney, as we prefer universal (especially IoA). Last time our kids ages' were in that sweet spot so we visited disney.

The sliding scale always makes it cheaper to add another day to a park you've already entered, rather than visit the other park - profit is built into the first day.

We're going in Feb 2011, and getting FlexPass for everyone except me, where I'm getting annual passes which come with free parking. Lowest cost solution I can find for 14 days.

 

[BrerMama]

Interesting thread. We, too, found that doing both Disney and Universal in one trip was going to be out of our budget (and we purchased our Uni tickets years ago, so that wasn't a factor). We decided to drop Disney, got a room at RPR on club level for the same price as a family suite at the All Stars, and we're hoping we don't regret it. I know we're all looking forward to spending an entire week at Universal resorts.

 

[damo]

The sliding scale is used to keep people from visiting both parks. It works --- however, the huge increase in attendance at IOA this year is showing that people are still willing to pay to see something new and exciting.

 

[calliemom]

Thanks to all for you very valuable tips and advise! We have a lot to think about now and thank goodness have started the planning process so far in advance.
Wishing you all a Happy Holiday!

 

[Mtnman44]

We are big disney fans. I have to say, no trip for us is complete without a stop at Universal. We used to go for two days, then the last trip was 3 days. Next month we will be at Universal for 4 days. We all love it, and if you can stay on site it makes the visit sooooo enjoyable. The proximity to the parks, plus the line passes make a world of difference by removing so much anxiety. Plus, the areas of the parks are well done with some fantastic rides as well as simply fun atmosphere.

I would suggest however that you consider dedicating at least two days if you are going to get tickets. Paying $300 just for Harry Potter doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[elbodans]

The sliding scale is used to keep people from visiting both parks. It works --- however, the huge increase in attendance at IOA this year is showing that people are still willing to pay to see something new and exciting.

above statement is right on. i'm going to disney for four days with my mother--the original plan was for my husband to come join me on the evening of the fifth, and then spend three more days in disney--total cost to add three days to my disney pass? $15! instead he's still joining me, but we're going to universal for three days and paying an extra $150 for my three day ticket in addition to the $150 for his three day ticket. behold the power of harry potter to overthrow disney's brilliant sliding admission fee structure!

 

[wjtbm8]

try craigslist in orlando

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

This is one of the reasons our last trip to Orlando was Universal only. As sad as it was to not go to Disney with it only 15 minutes away, we couldn't afford to buy both sets of tickets.

We really had a great time at Universal; it made a fabulous adults only trip and I see us going back again (especially if they expand the HP area like they are talking about).

 

[Owlpost23]

Glad to hear the love for Uni/Ioa!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Interesting thread. We, too, found that doing both Disney and Universal in one trip was going to be out of our budget (and we purchased our Uni tickets years ago, so that wasn't a factor). We decided to drop Disney, got a room at RPR on club level for the same price as a family suite at the All Stars, and we're hoping we don't regret it. I know we're all looking forward to spending an entire week at Universal resorts.

If you regret RPR club level over the All Stars, something's wrong with you.

Anyway, I do Universal only trips and have been doing them for years. Disney is refusing to add new things and so I refuse to go. The price just keeps on increasing and the value keeps decreasing.

 

[RACEFAN9]

Ever since we went to Universal 4 years ago my family has no desire to go back to Disney.My girls are 16 and 12.If you stay onsite you get front of the line,no waiting hours like Disney to ride.This year we got the annual park holder tickets so we can go back as many times as we wont.Which would be every month if left up to my family.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Ever since we went to Universal 4 years ago my family has no desire to go back to Disney.My girls are 16 and 12.If you stay onsite you get front of the line,no waiting hours like Disney to ride.This year we got the annual park holder tickets so we can go back as many times as we wont.Which would be every month if left up to my family.

Not to mention that City Walk is right there, between the two parks. What fun is that!

 

[brenda1966]

Spending 2 days at US/IoA added a lot of expense to our recent "Disney" trip, not to mention the US Onsite room at RPR. But it was worth every cent!!!

I ended up "investing" in a 10 day no expire for Disney, and it was the right choice for us, because when we go back next year, we're going to have to do more US/IoA days. We had a blast there! I'm trying to imagine a visit to Orlando where we don't do both, and I can't see it. We'll just have to find a way to pay for the added expense!

 

[Jalva22]

So, we're in this same boat. Our plan was 4 WDW days, 2 Universal days in early June. If we cut out WDW, my question is, what do we do at Universal for that many days? We would be staying onsite, so we'd have the express pass.

 

[BrerMama]

So, we're in this same boat. Our plan was 4 WDW days, 2 Universal days in early June. If we cut out WDW, my question is, what do we do at Universal for that many days? We would be staying onsite, so we'd have the express pass.

We may not be the people to ask -- we did Disneyland in 2009 and spent over a week with just the 2 parks, so we enjoy taking our time and enjoying the parks. My plan for the week we'll be at Universal Resort is time by the pool, relaxing at City Walk, possibly seeing a movie at City Walk, and taking time to just enjoy the atmosphere of the parks. We'll have plenty of time to run over and do just the water rides one afternoon, then go back to the hotel and change out of wet clothes. Time to see the shows. No need to rush through everything and see it all in one or two days. Lots of time to just sit and relax. I enjoy visiting theme parks, but I do not enjoy the rushrush of it all. My favorite vacation days are days when we take it slow, spend time by the pool, eat a leisurely dinner. When we're at WDW, we rarely do that because we're trying to cram it all in. In fact, I have to purposefully buy less days of admission than we're planning to be there or we'd never take a break. At Universal Resort, I think we'll have plenty of time to do it all and relax. I'm really excited.

 

[damo]

So, we're in this same boat. Our plan was 4 WDW days, 2 Universal days in early June. If we cut out WDW, my question is, what do we do at Universal for that many days? We would be staying onsite, so we'd have the express pass.

It is a great vacation when you can take your time at the parks, enjoy the hotels (go pool hopping), visit Citywalk and just relax. With four days, you can do all of this.

 

[Jalva22]

We may not be the people to ask -- we did Disneyland in 2009 and spent over a week with just the 2 parks, so we enjoy taking our time and enjoying the parks. My plan for the week we'll be at Universal Resort is time by the pool, relaxing at City Walk, possibly seeing a movie at City Walk, and taking time to just enjoy the atmosphere of the parks. We'll have plenty of time to run over and do just the water rides one afternoon, then go back to the hotel and change out of wet clothes. Time to see the shows. No need to rush through everything and see it all in one or two days. Lots of time to just sit and relax. I enjoy visiting theme parks, but I do not enjoy the rushrush of it all. My favorite vacation days are days when we take it slow, spend time by the pool, eat a leisurely dinner. When we're at WDW, we rarely do that because we're trying to cram it all in. In fact, I have to purposefully buy less days of admission than we're planning to be there or we'd never take a break. At Universal Resort, I think we'll have plenty of time to do it all and relax. I'm really excited.

It is a great vacation when you can take your time at the parks, enjoy the hotels (go pool hopping), visit Citywalk and just relax. With four days, you can do all of this.

Yeah, with WDW, I do get into a kind of gotta go gotta go mentality. Relaxing at the resort rarely even enters into the plans.

Thanks for the reminder that there's more to Universal (and WDW, for that matter) than rushing from ride to ride!!!

 

[torinsmom]

We did 7 day tickets for both Universal and WDW last year, but that was with the $99 7 day tickets. I know we want to do both again, but I'm not sure which tickets we'll get.

Universal/IOA are definitely different than WDW. That being said, we love them both and just bite the bullet and spend the money.

 

[Tiggr88]

I know what you man. We used to do both on each trip, but it became too cost prohibitive. We took a few Disney only vacations and then this year spent 8 days in late August on-site at HRH and didn't make it to Disney at all. Seems like our trips may be one or the other, unless we decide to stay for longer than 7-8 days. Kind of miss it, but each trip was enjoyable. In fact, without trying to do all of Diseny and US/IOA in the same trip, each trip was little less hectic and more enjoyable.


When we stayed at HRH for that long, we:

• relaxed the touring
• came back for breaks
• spent one day without going to a park at all
• spent time at pool
• went back to WWoHP at different times without trying to do everything each time
• spent one day doing all the water rides at IoA over and over.

We had a great time. We also went to SeaWorld. We had always missed out since we were busy cramming all of the other parks into our vacations. If you can swing it (and with discounts and 2 days for 1 pricing, it is more affordable than adding Disney or US/IOA), I would suggest going to SW. Kids loved it as much as Diseny or US/IOA. By not going to Disney those couple of days, we still had a great time.

By the way, if you do got to SW, you should consider using a taxi rather than a car. $15 a day to park at hotel on top of rental cost gets expensive.

Next trip we'll go back to Disney and probably not be able to afford going back to US/IOA (although trying to convince the kids we're not going back to WWoHP probably won't work). I'll probably end up biting the bullet on the one day excursion just to go to WWoHP or doing a split stay for a couple of days.

Either way, you'll enjoy it and there is plenty to do if you end up at US/IOA.