Universal Studios and Downtown Disney

[Montegut]

Son is a college sophomore, and thinking of a quick trip to Universal with him and husband when he gets out in early May. Husband and I are doing an anniversary to Disney in October, but don't plan to see any of Downtown Disney then. Would like to do a short family trip to Universal and Harry Potter, but would like to eat at some of the restaurants at Downtown Disney in the evening. We have some free nights at Marriott hotels that we'll use for accommodations and rent a car, so we would drive to Downtown Disney. Is this doable if we're staying near Universal? We'll likely stay at the Fairfield near Universal, that's right across the street. Is there a meal plan we can get to cover both Downtown Disney and Universal, or are they all going to be OOP? We'll likely use our Disney Visa for expenses to earn rewards for our anniversary trip. It will be a short trip, maybe Friday to Monday, as we're saving vacation days for the anniversary trip!

Thanks for any advice, info!

 

[canadiankim]

Travelling from Universal to Disney is a breeze when you have a car. It take around 25 minutes (depending on the I4) but don't expect to get any meal deals that will cover Universal and Disney.

 

[DCTooTall]

It really is close when you have a car. I'd even be willing to say it's only 2 exits down I-4, so if traffic is moving, well under 25min. (most on-ramps to I-4 from Universal are past the Sand Lake exit ramp, so you'll have the Beeline ramp, and then 535 which you can take into Crossroads and DTD.)


As as the previous poster mentioned, You won't find any sort of meal deal to cover both Universal and Disney. All disney's Meal deals (disney dining plans) require an onsite stay package anyways, and will only cover onsite dining. Universal has a meal deal at the parks anyone can get, but those are only good at counter service places in the parks and not at Citywalk.

Since there isn't a single operator or company that oversees restaurants at both locations, you won't find anyone offering any sort of meal package deal.

 

[Montegut]

Oh, I knew there wouldn't be a combined package, but I wasn't sure if Downtown Disney had any restaurants on the Meal Plan. Since we won't stay on site for this family combo trip, I want to save eating at Downtown Disney restaurants for the family trip and not worry about them during the anniversary trip. Plus, I think son will more enjoy Downtown Disney restaurants than on site table service options. Thinking specifically Wolfgang Puck's. Our hotel will offer breakfast, and we'll probably do dinner at Downtown Disney, so didn't know if there was a mini dining plan at Universal that we should look for, as we'll probably do drinks/snacks/kids meals during the day, which will add up. Thanks for the driving tip. Looks like staying off site will be a better deal for us to combine Universal with Downtown Disney and worth renting a car.

 

[DCTooTall]

Oh, I knew there wouldn't be a combined package, but I wasn't sure if Downtown Disney had any restaurants on the Meal Plan. Since we won't stay on site for this family combo trip, I want to save eating at Downtown Disney restaurants for the family trip and not worry about them during the anniversary trip. Plus, I think son will more enjoy Downtown Disney restaurants than on site table service options. Thinking specifically Wolfgang Puck's. Our hotel will offer breakfast, and we'll probably do dinner at Downtown Disney, so didn't know if there was a mini dining plan at Universal that we should look for, as we'll probably do drinks/snacks/kids meals during the day, which will add up. Thanks for the driving tip. Looks like staying off site will be a better deal for us to combine Universal with Downtown Disney and worth renting a car.

Universal's meal plan can be iffy on it's value. Basically, It lets you eat as many burgers and fries as you want during the day for a flat cost. I've personally found (judging from the cost of the meal plan vs. menu cost) that if you can eat 2 meals in the park during the day, you can come out ahead. The problem with that is the lack of variety (only at certain restaurants), and the shorter hours at the parks during non-peak times can make it hard to really fit 2 meals in between the start of lunch and when the restaurants start to close in the late afternoon before the rest of the park.

I do believe there are several DTD restaurants that participate in the Disney Dining plan. I don't have the list available, but I'm sure you can figure it out on Disney's site by limited your restaurant search to only those restaurants that participate in the DDP.

 

[macraven]

http://www.universalorlando.com/military/Nightlife/meal-movie-popup.aspx?Intsrch=meal and a movie


you could buy that above package for city walk at the kiosk desk in city walk.

if you don't want to use the movie ticket, you can save it for another trip in the future.

i still have my movie ticket from 2005 and it is still valid.