universal and seaworld or just wdw

[kdm0516]

I'm trying to decide what to do when we go to Orlando in October. We originally were just going to go to WDW, stay on property for 7 days. But after looking at what disney has I'm wondering if my kids will not enjoy it much. They will be 7 and 5 when we go. My 7 year old is into roller coaster and NOT into characters at all. My 5 year old likes the roller coasters she is tall enough to be on. She isn't big on disney characters. She will of course like the princesses. It is really hard to decide what they will enjoy the most. It is a costly vacation so I really want it to be the right choice.
thanks

 

[nchulka]

I think your daughters will find plenty to do and enjoy at Disney. That said we are coming in Sept. and are doing Discovery Cove, Seaworld and a day at the beach along with the Disney parks. Have you checked out DC? For the admission price (which is steep) you get free admission to SeaWorld. You can take your kids to the Disney Waterparks too, they close early so you could still hit a regular park in the evening. Your 7 year old would probably love the trill slides at Blizzard Beach.

 

[annacali]

My two DD's are 7 and 5 and love, love love all the rides at Disney...they are tall enough to ride all but the few 48 inch ones. The challenge is getting there early to ride them once standby and getting fastpasses sequentially after that to be able to do them often enough to keep them satisfied. That said, we were there the week after Memorial day and did BTMRR about 10 or more times, Test Track at least 10 times, Soarin 3 times, Splash at least once a trip to MK etc. They did Barnstormer over and over and over ---even though it was tame they liked that they were allowed to ride by themselves!

We also did Sea World because we love it---but for the shows, not the rides. The rides there are either way too huge for my DDs or too tame (the happy harbor ones are slow loading and not worth it). We generally skip them in favor of the shows and animal experiences there which we LOVE! But we also spent a ton of time in the Seas pavilion in Epcot too this trip so I wouldn't underestimate the power of Disney...my two LOVED everything about Epcot...kidcot, the countries---especially some of the entertainment back there, innoventions, etc. It was our second favorite park this time behind MK!

 

[metsno1]

But after looking at what disney has I'm wondering if my kids will not enjoy it much.

Certainly, you know your kids best! But with that said....

There isn't a pair of 5 and 7 year old siblings anywhere on the planet that wouldn't enjoy Disney much!! Both of my DD's have been multiple times (their fourth trip coming up in late August), and I can tell you that they have been completely and totally thrilled with each trip.

It's to the point where, for this trip, we offered them both the chance to do Universal, Sea World, Discovery Cove, Harry Potter, and all that, and cut our time as Disney in half (we're staying for two weeks this trip!!).

They looked at me like I had two heads! They couldn't even imagine leaving the property. DD12 said "Why in the world would I ever want to set foot back in the real world when I can just stay in the best place ever for the whole time???"

Guess I've trained 'em well!!

 

[myhouseofmouse]

Yeah, I second what everyone else says...If This is your first trip to the "world" you will have plenty to keep you busy there for the week. However, with the ages of your kids, if you are going to go outside the world, I think they would enjoy Sea world as well. Universal is fine, but I think even your 7 year old with not be tall enough to enjoy the big coasters at Universal, so what is the point? You should check the ride height Requirements first, just so no one is disappointed. Have a wonderful trip...

 

[Kat&Dom]

I'm trying to decide what to do when we go to Orlando in October. We originally were just going to go to WDW, stay on property for 7 days. But after looking at what disney has I'm wondering if my kids will not enjoy it much. They will be 7 and 5 when we go. My 7 year old is into roller coaster and NOT into characters at all. My 5 year old likes the roller coasters she is tall enough to be on. She isn't big on disney characters. She will of course like the princesses. It is really hard to decide what they will enjoy the most. It is a costly vacation so I really want it to be the right choice.
thanks

For our 8 day trip last August, we did Disney, Universal, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld - to be honest, it was expensive and we got burnt out because there is so much to see and do at all the parks. It is a tremendous amount of walking every day too - my SIL had a pedometer on and we averaged 12-14 miles a day.

We just went again this year in April for 7 days again and we spent 5 days at Disney, 1 day at SeaWorld and 1 day at the beach and attending a baseball game in Tampa. This vacation was way more relaxing and enjoyable. We had the parkhopper feature so that we could move to a different park in the evenings. It worked out great.

Next year once the Harry Potter craze has worn off a bit, I want to do a mainly Universal and SeaWorld vacation. I upgraded our tickets in April to be 10 day, PH, WP&M, no expiry so we have 5 park days and 10 waterpark days in the future so if we want to catch a Disney day, we can and it is already paid so it won't cost anything at that point.

I love the SeaWorld days because the shows are awesome and it is such a beautiful and relaxing park to be at. My son loved the Journey to Atlantis - I think it's drop is more intense than Splash Mountain and it was pretty much a walk on. He was able to do Journey 3x in a row with no line up at all.

After doing the 4 Disney Parks, 2 Universal Parks and SeaWorld in one 8 day trip, I would not recommend it to anyone unless they are on a 2-3 week vacation - one week to see all the parks is just too much. About halfway through the vacation, everyone was getting burnt out and the parks we did at the end did not get the same energy as the parks at the beginning of our trip. I think that you will get more value for your money/time if you just do Disney and SeaWorld and save Universal for another trip. Good luck deciding.

 

[j9000]

If youre going to Universal only for coasters check your daughters heights against the rides on the Universal website, there isnt much point in going all the way over to universal if they are not tall enough for the coasters (mummy, dragon challenge etc are incredible but a meter something i think?).

to be honest all 3 in a week is too much for anyone, you could do it, but you may also burn out, and bite each others heads off.

 

[Upatnoon]

With the age of your kids, I would do Disney now. Your kids are in their prime Disney years and will have lots of fun. Later, when both can do all the coasters, you can do non-Disney trip.

There is enough to do at Disney to last a month, let alone a week, so don't worry about getting bored.

No matter what you pick, financially, you are better off picking one or the other as well the cost of entry drops when you choose parks in the same "family" such as Disney, or Universal/IOA or Sea World/Aquatica/Busch Gardens