Universal (wizarding world) and DW in the same trip??

[maesey]

I really want / need to go to WW but can't imagine not going to DW while in Orlando. Trying to figure out if it makes more sense to stay at universal for a night, do Harry potter and start disney vacation after or stay at disney the whole time and take a daytrip to universal?! And I feel like a traitor for even thinking about leaving DW for one minute, is this normal??

 

[nfceagles]

Stay at Universal before your trip. You'll feel even more guilty when you don't want to leave.

 

[kwelch10377]

I've gone and done a day at Universal plenty of times and I know many people in this board either do that or stay a few nights at Universal and then some nights at Disney.

 

[soniam]

We're doing our first split stay in March. We will stay at Universal Royal Pacific 3 nights and then POR 3 nights. If you stay at a Uni deluxe, you get early entry and express pass. I think it will be worth it. Plus, the Uni hotels seem to be cheaper and have more deals than WDW.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

not going to get into whether or not you will like Universal better than Disney, but it may be worthwhile to stay at least one night at a Universal resort to get express pass and/or early entry.

If you choose Cabana Bay you will get only early entry, but if your main interest is Potter, this is helpful for the HP areas since the major HP rides don't accept express pass anyway.

 

[TinkSassy]

We're doing one day on our trip next week. One day is plenty for us.

 

[DOOM1001]

I really want / need to go to WW but can't imagine not going to DW while in Orlando. Trying to figure out if it makes more sense to stay at universal for a night, do Harry potter and start disney vacation after or stay at disney the whole time and take a daytrip to universal?! And I feel like a traitor for even thinking about leaving DW for one minute, is this normal??

I have no idea how many days your trip is but I think what you should really be considering is doing two days at Universal,its two parks with Potter areas in both parks and the newest Diagon Alley area in my opinion requires more time than the original area.Maybe do Disney for a day or two and on the third day drive over to Universal doing a third and fourth day there spending the night there,the new Cabana Bay hotel isn't very expensive.

 

[crostorfer]

Stay at Universal before your trip. You'll feel even more guilty when you don't want to leave.

This x50!

 

[WDW1971]

We've done this three times now (split stay). Once off-site for the Universal part, twice at Royal Pacific. Once at the beginning of the trip, twice at the end.

I will concur with the other poster who declined to start the debate over whether Universal is better, but I will say it's different.

There are good differences that are quite enjoyable, and they are magnified by staying on-site. The unlimited fast pass that come with an on site stay (at the more upscale Universal resorts) is fantastic.

I think it's especially fun if the Universal trip happens at the end. It feels like a vacation from the rest of the vacation. Even though I like FP+, I found that I really loved having the unlimited express pass at Universal after a week at DW, and all of the planning, appointments, and reservations that now entails. At times we were almost giddy -- we could go on any ride at any time and walk to the front of the line! Spontaneity! Woo hoo! My kids did the Hippogryph 6 times in a row in fast succession.

For the few attractions w/o the unlimited express pass, I find the single rider lines work just as well.

(Yes, I like FP+. but let's not go there either! Point being if you don't like FP+, then you'll probably appreciate unlimited express even more).

Finally, I really like Loews hotels -- the onsite at Universal. I love staying on Disney property too, but there I feel like I'm paying more for Disney magic and convenience. At the Loews resorts, I feel like I'm getting just a little bit more service and amenities in line with the price.

 

[shannn]

We're doing a split stay this time. Two nights at Universal RPR and then 5 nights at Disney BWV. The reason we did Universal first is because we'll be 6 people in 2 hotel rooms and we decided we'd rather do that first and then move to our 2 bedroom villa (with a washer/dryer) at BW for the last part.

 

[gkel]

This coming January we are doing our first spilt trip with 2 nights at PBR and than a week in Disney. The past two times we have been to Disney we have stayed on property and rented a car to go to Universal. We decided that for our next trip that we were going to stay in Universal because we think that it totally worth it that you get to enter the park early (the lines for Harry Potter got so long since we had to wait to go in). I would 100% do a split trip. (p.s. we also had so much fun at Universal and we were feeling guilty about missing Disney for a day but it was worth it!)

 

[kuzco-like]

In 2009, I stayed at WDW (CB), and took the Mears shuttle to USF two days in a row. It was easy and convenient. But that was before the two Harry Potter lands were added to the parks. This December, I'm going to stay a few days at USF first at Cabana Bay. As I'm focusing on the two HP lands, I didn't see the need to stay at the deluxes and get the front-of-the-line access. Hopefully, I won't regret my decision. (I think that I did the math, and it was more economical to add the FOL option to my P2P passes, if required, rather than stay at a deluxe.) After my stay at USF, I'm transferring to WDW. I hope this works out. Will post about my experiences when I get home.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We just did a split stay between the two in August. It was fun. We did Universal first onsite and then moved offsite and did a few WDW days. You are not a traitor

 

[dsdeleon]

My trips have been visiting from Disney, then spilt stays and the next is onsite Universal only and visiting Disney. You may like the dark side!

 

[nkereina]

Next trip we are doing WDW from Friday to Wednesday, and then heading to Universal (Royal Pacific) on Wednesday til Saturday. Though it would be a good balance of both places, while allowing us to take advantage of onsite perks at both locations. Having never done Universal, we wanted enough time to see all the Potter stuff plus everything else. And I hear the pools at Universal resorts are amazing!

 

[maesey]

Thank you all- this was so helpful, I feel much better!