WDW and US Trip - Change Hotels or just transport to park - discuss.

[Lm3js]

Hi,

I apologize as I know this has probably been asked 1000 times, but I cannot find the right search terms to pull it up. If there is a thread already, please post for me in comments!!

We are a family of 4 traveling (daredevil kids are 12 and 7) for ~8 day vacation to WDW and US from California in July 2016. We are avid DL goers, but kids never been to WDW and none of us have been to US (looking forward to Harry Potter world and the likes).

We are looking to do ~4 days of WDW followed by 2 days of US with a day or 2 downtime in between the two for waterparks/pooltime/misc. We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside for the WDW portion.

My questions are this.
1. Do you recommend transferring hotels to a US on-site for 3nights/2 days there? I know we'll lose our Magic Express airport transport, but we gain early entry for US? Is that worth it? NOTE: our planned days for US are Sun/Mon right now.
2. Or, should we just do a Uber/shuttle/taxi back and forth for the 2 days and stay at POR so we don't have to pack/unpack, etc.
3. Are there other pros/cons ? ie. Costs more at US vs. POR? etc...

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Pesky]

By no means an expert, but I'll weigh in with what we decided to do after examining everything. Given we are are spending a 1/3 of our time at US and 2/3 at Disney, we are moving to a US hotel. The primary reason for doing so is to get the early entrance and express pass (kind of a permanent FP during your stay at PB, HRH, or RPR) for a number of major ride), plus to have a readily available room when our then 7YO needs a break. I would consider pricing it out the various ways, including with Tony Hinds who runs a transportation service that many here have recommended in addition to Uber (take into consideration peak times the price can go up a lot), and also weigh what might be the most important to you (ME back to the airport versus express pass). FYI, we decided to rent a car (DH has some free days) to aide in the transport back and forth.

 

[damo]

I'd definitely stay on site at Universal in the summer. It is HOT! You want to make the most of your time and that means not waiting in regular lines. Staying onsite at one of the three deluxe hotels give you unlimited express which will be your best friend in the middle of the summer.

 

[thr33boys]

In 2013, we stayed on-site at Disney we travelled to Universal for our 2 day tickets. Next month we are splitting the on-site stay. I'm sure we'll find it much more relaxing and not so rushed. We plan on using Uber to get back to the airport.

 

[thewelts]

We are avid DL fans. We first went to WDW in 2013. We planned to split out time between WDW & Universal but the added cost of Universal was too significant (peak holiday season). It was much less expensive to spend the 7 nights at WDW. As much as this was a practical decision, we regretted missing Universal - specifically Harry Potter.

We are returning to Universal and WDW in December. We will spend 2 nights at the HRH and then 4 nights at VGF. We hired Anthony Hinds (aobh607@gmail.com) as our driver. He is highly recommended on this site.

For $100 he will pick us up at the airport and bring us to the HRH. He will then transport us to WDW (with a grocery stop). We will take the Magical Express one-way back to MCO.

 

[bumbershoot]

I will stay at Uni and visit WDW, rather than stay at WDW and visit Uni. The onsite perks at Uni are a million times better than the onsite perks at WDW.

Though...for rundisney events things get turned around a little LOL. Sure wish Uni would get in on the run events!

 

[Planogirl]

If you can definitely move to a Universal hotel. The Express is wonderful plus you can't beat how close everything is unlike WDW where everything is so sprawled out. Note that you do not get Express if you stay at Cabana Bay though.

 

[Happyjen27]

We're changing hotels mid-trip, for all the reasons stated above. We toyed with renting a house, staying all disney, staying all Uni, and in the end, we decided the easiest option for daily use of parks and perks would be staying at on-site at each resort. Yes, moving mid-trip will stink, but it seemed better than the hassle of traveling to parks from somewhere other than the on-site resort.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Not sure what the budget will allow - but also consider an extra day onsite at Uni unless you are truly wanting to do both Disney waterparks on your "off" days. The pools at the Uni hotels are awesome and you are free to pool hop between them. With the Express Pass that comes along with onsite stays at RPR, HRH, or PBR, you don't need extra "off" days. You can head over to the parks, spend a few hours (ride a lot with Express or do HP world), hit the pool(s) in the afternoon heat, then head back over to the parks in the evening. Universal is a destination that allows for touring and relaxing at the same time.

I can understand the desire to do both waterparks on a trip from the West Coast and I know budgets are not unlimited, but another option to consider - Universal is a bit different than WDW. My family did enjoy our pool time at Disney, but personally, my best day EVER in Florida was a cabana day at Hard Rock pool in the heat of July 2012!!!

 

[Lm3js]

Thank you so much for all your replies!! I apologize for the late reply post -- for some reasons I didn't get notifications and got wrapped up in regular non-disney life! I think the majority here recommend switching so I'll start looking into that asap. Thanks again!!