Universal / Disneyworld Split Stay

[HairyChest]

Just got back from a disneyworld/universal split stay

It was my first time at universal, and 4th at disney. 2 adults no kids. Dislike rollercoasters (space mountain is fun but we wont ride anything more intense then that)

We went from august 27th to september 4th.

Weather was hot but not unbearable. Crowds were low at both parks, will do again.


PORTOFINO BAY: We started off 2 nights at the portofino bay hotel. WOW. Absolutely in love with it. Beds were the most comfortable ive ever slept in , including the pillows which was great because i forgot to bring my pillow as i always do on trips. The themeing is spectacular including the pool. Pictures dont do it justice. The room and bathroom is spacious. Ask for the west wing which is close to the boat and beach pool. We watched harry potter on a projector from the pool at night. Only problem was the pools close and lock up at 11pm and we are lateswimmers. Service was great. 15 min walking distance to the parks but we did the 5 minute boat ride which was very relaxing. Food from sals which was pizza and fries to go was great. Really transported you to another world. We are also disney polynesian lovers so we stopped by the royal pacific hotel to checkout the ambiance and were sooo glad we picked the portofino. So much more spectacular!






Video of the portofino:

GRAND FLORIDIAN: luxurious as always. We had planned to stay here six night but by night 4, we missed the portofino bay and harry potter so we left early and did the last 2 nights back at the portofino bay. Before the trip i wass tressing about missing the disney magic so i opted to do disney last But its better to do universal last, because magical express going into orlando is such a great expirience, leaving disney and going to universal is easier then leaving disney and going home. Tons to do fyi. Anyhoo, We got a free upgrade to lagoon view because our drains werent working in our original room. View, service, theming, pools were all great, never crowded. Bed was comfy as universal. Park access was a hop and skip away via the monorail. And the room service pasta: GREATEST PASTA I EVER HAD. It was a multi cheese with mushrooms and garlic pasta (without shrimp or chicken since we ordered vegetarin) it was only $16 huge, and tasted like heaven. All in all a fabulous stay, better then the portofino bay, but both amazing resorts.






video of the grand:

More to come...

 

[HairyChest]

Universal: so i had read that there isnt much to do there, you can do everything in a couple days, if you dont like roller coasters it stinks, there is no themeing. Etc...BULLSHLACHA!

There is alot to do, great theming, and yes you can do everything in about 3 days but they are soooo cool that youll want to do them again and again and that doesnt even include spending time at your hotel, the pool, and citywalk.

Parkhoppers is a must especially with the 2 harry potter lands and the hogwarts express that connects the 2. Which brings me to...

HARRY POTTER: OH. MY. GAWD. Unbelievable. Ive watched all the movies but not a huge fan. My mom saw a couple of the movies, not a big fan either. After going to universal we are huuuuuge harry potter fans now. Its THAT good. diagon Alley is detailed and themed unlike anything youve seen including disney. It transports you in a way i only thought disney could. The fire breathing dragon is huge, shakes the floor, and makes your jaw drop. Butterbeer ice cream will addict you. Kings Cross station will wow you, its the size of a whole land in Disney. Using a wand to create magic is sooo satisfying and fun. ESCAPE FROM GRINGOTTS from entering the line to exiting the ride is a whole land unto itself and engrosses you in epic wizardry. The journey into platform 9 and 3/4 onto the hogwarts express to hogsmeade and back will make you squeel, and its no half grassed effort, it will make u tear up in joy and sensory overload. The fact that you go aboard from london, and on the train it shows you going from london to hogsmead, then you step out and your actually in hogsmeade, is such an amazing expirience. I wanted to ride the train again and again. Once you enter the world of harry potter you wont want to leave, you just want to hang out there. IT IS WORTH THE TRIP TO FLORIDA ALONE. We bought wands, i bought all this various schwag and now we are watching the movies every night since we came back. THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY is worthy of its reputation as the best dark ride ever! On a side note, it is not intense, it is smoooooth and not roller coastery. Its like soarin but with real props and alil extra kick to the movements. On a side note, all the places include such beautiful music while you are in the lands that add so much to the world, i loved it.






RIDES/SHOWS:
harry potter and the forbidden journey: greatest ride ever, amazing theming waiting in line just going through the castle, rivals my deep true love of the pirates of the carribean.
Escape from gringotts: the ride itself is a tad short on itself but its not a ride its a journey that starts in the begining of the queue as you enter gringotts bank. The most beautiful single first room of any queue, jaw dropping. Then going to different rooms and elevator transports you. Also, BUY THE LITTLE GRINGOTTS ID PICTURE AT THE END OF THE RIDE! Its 20$ and includes a high quality lanyard and gringotts parchment that is an amazing value and one of the best souveneers offered.
Hogwarts express: wooooow
SPIDERMAN : so much fun and high-tech
ET: universals answer to peter pan and suuuuuch a wonderful classic feeling it gives you. A must
DISASTER: waste of 40 min
T2 3D: best 3d movie! Great action
The mummy: short and sweet. Fast but after the second ride i was able to keep my eyes open and enjoy sooo much. Went on this constantly
Men in black- buzz lightyear for teenagers. Very cool new york streets.
Poseidons fury: best show there, went twice. Awsome effects. Great theming
Sinbad- stinks
Simpsons- fun, great themed land, get the chicken and waffles sandwich, so good(pic below)

Despicable me- funny! Fun ride
Transformers- like spiderman, very cool,a must do, but spidermans story and theme i personally like better.
Rip saw falls and popeys tube ride: we wore our swimsuits and went on these and got dreeeenched, very fun, popeyes is the better one.

Unlimited express passes were free with our hotel stay and is now a must do! Even on slow days. Spoiled us. And im a guy who thought "not a big deal for me to wait in lines". Now i wont go without it. Really is worth it no matter the crowds.

 

[jevs]

Looks awesome.

We have planned 2 full days àt Universal but we are huge HP fans, do you think we should add another day there. Not fussed about a lot of the rides but coming from Australia so unlikely to ever visit again. We have a couple of rest days up our sleeve so could do it.

Cheers.

 

[HairyChest]

Looks awesome.

We have planned 2 full days àt Universal but we are huge HP fans, do you think we should add another day there. Not fussed about a lot of the rides but coming from Australia so unlikely to ever visit again. We have a couple of rest days up our sleeve so could do it.

Cheers.

What hotel are you staying at? Are little ones going? Have you ever been to universal?

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Loved your review! So interested in reading about Portofino as we stayed at RPR a few weeks ago, are now hooked, and love reading about all the Universal hotels and such. We were first timers staying 2 nights, could have easily stayed 3 or more to enjoy it all. I agree with you about the Potter lands. The theming was unbelievable.

Your pics are awesome! I just loved every bit of it! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[jevs]

Hi Hairychest, nope, never been to Universal. Will stay at Cabana. Our party consists of myself, my elderly mum, disabled sister, 11 yr old son, and 8 yr old twins. So a varied mix of abilities.

HP is a must, as are the Simpsons. And Butterbeer, I must try this lol.

We have 8 nights at WDW and are also ending our trip in Anaheim with 6 nights. So have a fair few Disney days and can have 5 days in Anaheim instead given we had a 10 day DLR pass earlier this year.

Your photos are telling me I really, really, really need another full day at US

 

[disney is my life]

Loved to read this! We are doing our first Disney and Universal split trip this year in March and we can't wait! We're doing 4 and a half days at Disney followed by 2 and a half days at Universal. We were planning on staying at the Royal Pacific but we may just switch to Portofino Bay after reading this.

 

[HairyChest]

Loved to read this! We are doing our first Disney and Universal split trip this year in March and we can't wait! We're doing 4 and a half days at Disney followed by 2 and a half days at Universal. We were planning on staying at the Royal Pacific but we may just switch to Portofino Bay after reading this.

Switch to portofino. Bigger rooms and its more of a resort vs royal pacific which to my brief impressions was just a hotel. Worst comes to worst you can hang out at the royal pacific while enjoying the bigger rooms at portofino.

Protip: buy discounted 3 day tix to universal (i got mine from undercover tourist buy 2 days get 1 free) then take it inside universal and upgrade to annual passes. You will get credit for the FULL TICKET PRICE not the discounted rate. My annual pass ended up costing me $190 total! Which i was then able to get the annual passholder rate for the hotel!

Jevs, do 3 nights at least. Especially since canana is alil further away. If you enjoy harry potter, you willwant to spend all your time just sitting and staring at gringotts!!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Protip: buy discounted 3 day tix to universal (i got mine from undercover tourist buy 2 days get 1 free) then take it inside universal and upgrade to annual passes. You will get credit for the FULL TICKET PRICE not the discounted rate. My annual pass ended up costing me $190 total! Which i was then able to get the annual passholder rate for the hotel!

Hi HairyChest, were they able to give you the passholder rate after you checked in?

 

[HairyChest]

Yes, you dont have to have an annual pass at checkin, just at checkout. Thats when they actually charge you.

 

[schumigirl]

and its more of a resort vs royal pacific which to my brief impressions was just a hotel.

RPR is as much a resort as any of the Universal hotels.

It is a huge amount of fun to hang around the resort here, pool is a lively fun place with as much or as little as you want to do.

Different strokes and all that. We all have our favorites, but RPR is a resort and not just a hotel.


Disney is my life..........pick the resort you get the best price for if you are not hooked on one theme..........you won't spend a huge amount of time in the room I assume.

Pool hopping is encouraged so you can try out all the resorts..........they are all lovely in their own way

 

[TaylorsDad]

RPR is as much a resort as any of the Universal hotels.

It is a huge amount of fun to hang around the resort here, pool is a lively fun place with as much or as little as you want to do.

Different strokes and all that. We all have our favorites, but RPR is a resort and not just a hotel.


Disney is my life..........pick the resort you get the best price for if you are not hooked on one theme..........you won't spend a huge amount of time in the room I assume.

Pool hopping is encouraged so you can try out all the resorts..........they are all lovely in their own way

I agree with you about RPR. HRH used to be the only place we would stay, then a couple of years ago we stayed at Royal Pacific and loved it as well. The theming makes me truly feel transported to an exotic location. We recently tried PBH but RPR and HRH tie for our favorite depending upon what we are wanting at the time. But I do love the fact that the 3 onsite deluxes are different enough to offer a wonderful and unique quality experience at each.

 

[macraven]

delightful report and awesome pictures.
have to say again, stunning pictures you shared with us!


but, another RPH fan here and couldn't stay at the other two ever again.

 

[mrsabbott]

Sounds like you had an amazing time! Makes me even more excited to go back! Lovely pictures!

 

[soniam]

Thanks. Great report. We are doing our first split in March (4 nights at RPR and 4 nights at WDW POR). Both new hotels for us. I had been looking into an AP. The AP hotel discount is not always offered. In fact, I was told on this board that it's usually not offered in March.

However, I got a really good rate from CheapTickets. I may have used a special Mousesavers deal too. Don't list children when you book your hotel with CheapTickets, or they will accidentally charge you extra, no matter the age.

 

[disneydawn71]

Fantastic photos and review... your excitement in contagious! I am doing Universal first then Disney afterwards, now I am worried I didn't plan enough time for Universal being the huge HP fan I am... may just have to plan another trip to Universal altogether!

 

[HairyChest]

great tip soniam! you will have a great time on your trip.

to those RPR lovers, you guys are making me want to book a couple days there too! my time there was very brief as I was walking back to my hotel at 1am

trip report to commence...

 

[HairyChest]

Fantastic photos and review... your excitement in contagious! I am doing Universal first then Disney afterwards, now I am worried I didn't plan enough time for Universal being the huge HP fan I am... may just have to plan another trip to Universal altogether!

are you stayin onsite at universal?

 

[HairyChest]

DISNEYWORLD: This trip we didn't do animal kingdom or Hollywood studios because Hollywood studios doesn't really interest us except for the sci fi dine in, and animal kingdom I do enjoy the themeing and alilbit of expdition Everest, however we LOOOOVE epcot and the magic kingdom and want to spend all our time there. plus we did OUR FIRST MICKEYS HALLOWEEN PARTY!!!

our plan each day was epcot in the morning, pool/resort time in the afternoon, magic kingdom in the evening. it was PERFECT

so mickeys Halloween party was fun, got lots of candy, fireworks were def the best, boo to you parade was cool, but the best part of it all was 10 MIN WAIT FOR 7 DWARVES MINE TRAIN! even during evening magic hours, the line for the min train was at least 45min. all rides I went on was a walk on! I think everyone should experience it but it is not something I will pay for to do again and again.




7dminetrain- I was expecting a short, tame, letdown of a ride based on all the impressions ive read. IT WAS AWSOME! this is def a must do future classic. the roller coaster does have a kick. the animatronic parts are wonderful. the views are beautiful. and they made the full house of the dwarves dancing inside with snow white!! it was amazing to see that in real life. short just like peterpan but just as sweet.


MonsterINC laugh floor- I never had done this because it just seemed lame, but wow it was HILARIOUS! and I don't laugh easily. definitely go see this.

Pirates is my fave. what a wonderful world, music, and beautiful lighting they put you in


one of my secret faves though is philarmagic. aircondition, the music and being in the Disney cartoons with all those characters in one show really hits home.


EPCOT: being a Disneyland annual passholder, epcot is the freshest part of Disneyworld to me since we have nothing like that here. SPACESHIP EARTH IS MY FAVVVVE. Its epcots pirates of the carribean. to me though, its all about exploring and eating at epcot.


which brings me to the food (Im a big foodie)....

 

[sdomino11]

I'm loving your TR. I agree with others that now I wonder if I need more time on my first trip to WWOHP! Question- just how much of a discount do you get from the APs at the Universal resorts?