Universal in Middle of WDW

[rlduvall]

I need help from the experts - DH's eyes just glaze over when I try to get his opinion. We will be flying in June 2nd for 9 nights at Disney and Universal. DS11 is definitely looking forward to WWOHP. We are Universal/WDW veterans and love to tour quickly/efficiently and I just can't go to Universal anymore without FOTL access. I have two ways I can handle the Universal portion of our trip; we already have multi day tickets for Universal and will have a rental car:

1) First 2 nights [Thursday/Friday] at RPH with AP rate. Total cost = $575 [includes cost of upgrading one pass to an AP, parking for hotel]. With an early flight arrival of 11:00 a.m., estimating entry at themepark at around 2:00 p.m. on first day. Then that Saturday leave around 3:00 p.m. to move over to WDW at DVC property for remaining 7 nights [already booked] in order to get a decent room; or,

2) 1 night at RPH in the middle of our WDW stay [Monday] AAA rate. Total cost = $295 [no need to buy an AP]. Would not check out of DVC property [all 9 nights currently booked] and would leave WDW property early Monday morning in order to be at parks by 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. Spend the night at RPH to guarantee early entry for WWOHP on at least Tuesday morning. Stay at parks both days until closing - even including a short afternoon break for either option. Head back over to WDW that Tuesday evening.

Didn't factor in food costs because that should be a wash. My calculations [yes, I should get a life] show that either option gives about the same amount of time in the actual Universal parks. Also, it doesn't bother me that much to 'burn' the points for the night we don't actually sleep in our DVC room because I need to use the points due to banking issues. That is an almost $300 saving for about the same amount of time in the parks. BUT, it might be a little more stressful that Monday morning and would only give us 1 night at City Walk - but that's not a deal breaker.

If anyone is still with me after this dissertation, what is your opinion?

Thanks.

I have also posted this on the Universal Board.

 

[ToddyLu]

Sounds OK to me.

 

[bumbershoot]

If the first plan makes for a longer trip, I like it more. But with two nights at RPR I'd then want to spend three days there, and I'd have such a hard time leaving Universal to go check in!

Either way it's going to be good.

 

[arthur06]

I would go with option #1. Its a longer trip and with option #2, I would have a hard time paying almost $300 for what amounts to a FOTL access. Unless I am confused!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We left our villa empty for one night last year. We took a Town Car to the Hard Rock early one morning, checked in, hit the preview of Harry Potter, toured the rest of IOA. Went to City Walk that night, went to Universal the next day, Town Car back to WDW by about 5 PM. We found that we were able to do everything we wanted to do at both Universal parks in less time than we expected.

 

[redmonster]

I would do option 2. We did it on one stay and just left our dvc empty that night. We left disney Tuesday Morning, cked in around 9, had bfest at the hotel, went and did all our riding with the fotl pass, went to city walk, had dinner, swam the next day and was back on disney the next day 3 or 4 oclock with the kids havin there full.

 

[Disneyhappy]

We did Universal with FOTL before our WDW trip and will NEVER do it again.Both adults and kids were spoiled by FOTL access and waiting in lines (even with FP) after FOTL took something away from our WDW experience. Now we always end our trip at Universal. Not sure of the age of your kids so you can only gage how they will react. If you only plan to go to Universal for two days, you only need to stay one night to get 2 full days of FOTL access. I think I would go with option 2. Good luck with your decision!