US/IOA or Seaworld/Aquatica?

[SleepyatDVC]

Help me decide where to go on my non-Disney trip, please. Although, I'm wondering if posting this on the US/IOA might bias some of the responses.

Last time DH and I went to US was in 1996. I'm not sure if we have been to SW after that either. Ever since we had the kids, we've been basically buying APs to WDW and have been held captive there. Lol. Our DDs will be 7 and 9 in August.

FINALLY, our APs run out on 8/23/08 and will be at the BWV the week BEFORE to use the APs one last time. But we were thinking of extending the trip one more week and staying for a week off site at the Marriott Cypress Harbor starting 8/23/08.

Originally, I was planning to just relax and hang out at the pool and the resort, do some shopping, and maybe do some of the WDW stuff we have NEVER done. We could use up a PLUS feature on some OLD park hoppers we have to go to one of the WDW water parks. Our girls had always been too young to go and then when they were older, I didn't want to take them myself when DH wasn't traveling with us. Now that they can swim, they have asked to go. DisneyQuest and Cirque De Soliel are also options of things we haven't done yet.

HOWEVER, US/IOA and SW/AQ both have these under $100/pp 2park/7day deals that I am tempted to pick one to try and FINALLY do something in Orlando non-Disney. But I only want to do ONE because of price and the second week needs to be relaxing. So, I'm torn between choosing which pair to go to.

SW/AQ sounds ideal because we are literally staying down the road from it and the girls have been hounding us about going to a water park. I thought it would be the perfect relaxing week.

BUT I've been wanting to go back to US and now IOA for years. I'm a bit afraid that it will cause us to revert back to park commando mode. Lol. However, 5-6 days should be plenty of days to take it easy (gotta go home the 7th). I would also have to use one of the PH pluses to go to a water park on one of those days because I promised the girls we would go.

Tell me the pros and cons of picking one over the other. Which do you suggest I pick in my situation and why? TIA!

 

[DOOM1001]

Well you haven't been to Universal since Islands of Adventure was built alongside Citywalk and their 3 hotels,so there is a lot of new things there as well as in the original Universal park who has replaced plenty of their rides since 1996.You're going at the end of August which is still summer and even though most of the largest summer crowds will be gone it will still be plenty busy.Another thing is that it will be hot,so Aquatica would be pretty appealing and Sea World is a more relaxing park with less rides and more shows so you won't be waiting in lines as much as Universal.But since you say that you have the option to use old tickets at a Disney waterpark where you've never been I would do Typhoon Lagoon and then do Universal and Islands of Adventure as what's there now is like a whole new world from when you last visited in 96.Although it will be hot IOA has several water rides to cool you off.I love Sea World and I'm sure Aquatica will be great.This is my opinion if you end up doing a Disney waterpark at no extra cost and still get to see the best theme park complex in Orlando outside of Disney.Then on a future trip do the Sea World/Aquatica combo.

 

[Ileana]

Do your girls like rides or do they prefer shows?

Sea World has 2 thrill rides - Kraken & Journey To Atlantis, and everything else is a show (except that polar bear show thingy that's similar to Star Tours, but there is a non-moving option of it)

With that said - I LOVE Sea World. The last time I went to Sea World was in the late 90's & just this year FI & I went for a day - I literally had a BLAST. I fully enjoyed my day at Sea World (then again I'm a self proclaimed theme park junkie - sooooooooooo )

US & IOA are FULL of great rides/shows

If your girls love Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain, etc - then I would seriously consider going to the Studios or Islands of Adventure.

Check the ride height requirements for the shows & see how tall your girls are. If they cannot ride a majority of the rides at Islands of Adventure, then a day at the Studios would be great for them.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Do your girls like rides or do they prefer shows?

Sea World has 2 thrill rides - Kraken & Journey To Atlantis, and everything else is a show (except that polar bear show thingy that's similar to Star Tours, but there is a non-moving option of it)

With that said - I LOVE Sea World. The last time I went to Sea World was in the late 90's & just this year FI & I went for a day - I literally had a BLAST. I fully enjoyed my day at Sea World (then again I'm a self proclaimed theme park junkie - sooooooooooo )

US & IOA are FULL of great rides/shows

If your girls love Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain, etc - then I would seriously consider going to the Studios or Islands of Adventure.

Check the ride height requirements for the shows & see how tall your girls are. If they cannot ride a majority of the rides at Islands of Adventure, then a day at the Studios would be great for them.

Well my girls will be 7 and 9 in August. They just recently started doing rides like BTMRR and Splash. Haven't tried Space or EE but will try it next trip in April. They did Tower of Terror last year and they are set for at least the next 2 years. I had to buy the photo it was priceless.

So they are not into all the THRILL rides yet - still cautiously dipping their toes into the Disney "thrill" rides which are pretty tame to begin with. DH is a bigger wimp. He makes ME take the girls on the rides and would wait it out if we didn't drag him. Not sure if he will even do Space Mtn.

Kids are currently 52" and 46" tall right now.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Well you haven't been to Universal since Islands of Adventure was built alongside Citywalk and their 3 hotels,so there is a lot of new things there as well as in the original Universal park who has replaced plenty of their rides since 1996.You're going at the end of August which is still summer and even though most of the largest summer crowds will be gone it will still be plenty busy.Another thing is that it will be hot,so Aquatica would be pretty appealing and Sea World is a more relaxing park with less rides and more shows so you won't be waiting in lines as much as Universal.But since you say that you have the option to use old tickets at a Disney waterpark where you've never been I would do Typhoon Lagoon and then do Universal and Islands of Adventure as what's there now is like a whole new world from when you last visited in 96.Although it will be hot IOA has several water rides to cool you off.I love Sea World and I'm sure Aquatica will be great.This is my opinion if you end up doing a Disney waterpark at no extra cost and still get to see the best theme park complex in Orlando outside of Disney.Then on a future trip do the Sea World/Aquatica combo.

DH loves the Appliance Guy!! He has those commercials on all the time.

I "think" I might be leaning towards SW/AQ only because I think that I would want to do US/IOA right and stay on property. We will be so much closer to SW/AQ this trip.

Also, because my family is wimpy and I want to make sure that someome will be ready to do some of the rides with me!

Of course, I am still open to people convincing me otherwise.

 

[Darcy03231]

Given what you've said about your girls I would do Seaworld/Aquatica. We were there last summer and did two days at Seaworld. We were there in August and it was really hot in the afternoons. We got there for when the park opened, stayed until early afternoon when it got hot, went back the house we rented to swim/eat/nap, and then went back around 5-6 pm and stayed until close. Even the older kids had a great time there. Aquatica wasn't open then so I can't help you with that. Our tickets included Wet n' Wild and we did spend a day there. My kids weren't too impressed (dd-16 and ds-14) but my sister's kids (dn -12, dn-9 and dn 3.5) had a good time.

We also did US/IOA. The older kids had a blast there with all the thrill rides. My kids are thrill ride junkies and will ride anything as will DN (12). They 9 y.o. is still a bit timid but did do Dudley Do-Right, Popeye, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Men in Black and the Mummy. The only ones she didn't do were The Hulk, Dr. Doom and Dueling Dragons. She also didn't do some of the bigger rides multiple times like the older ones did. Once a day was enough for her. Her favorite parks were Seaworld and Magic Kingdom (we did Pirates and Princesses).

 

[Ileana]

Well my girls will be 7 and 9 in August. They just recently started doing rides like BTMRR and Splash. Haven't tried Space or EE but will try it next trip in April. They did Tower of Terror last year and they are set for at least the next 2 years. I had to buy the photo it was priceless.

So they are not into all the THRILL rides yet - still cautiously dipping their toes into the Disney "thrill" rides which are pretty tame to begin with. DH is a bigger wimp. He makes ME take the girls on the rides and would wait it out if we didn't drag him. Not sure if he will even do Space Mtn.

Kids are currently 52" and 46" tall right now.

Look into SeaWorld then

The Studios have a lot of great rides with the Mummy really being the only "thrill" ride that I can think of. Everything else is pretty much a show or mild ride

MIB is like Buzz Lightyear (but sooo much better) hehehehe

 

[momof3disneyholics]

HOWEVER, US/IOA and SW/AQ both have these under $100/pp 2park/7day deals that I am tempted to pick one to try and FINALLY do something in Orlando non-Disney. But I only want to do ONE because of price and the second week needs to be relaxing. So, I'm torn between choosing which pair to go to.

They are going to be re-doing the flex ticket too and it will have all of those things you mentioned on it plus Wet and wild. I don't know the price yet, but it will probably be a pretty good value. The websites should have some info on that soon if they don't already.