WDW or US/IOA first?

[felinosaurus]

During our six day trip in May we're planning to do both Universal/IOA and WDW. We'll have Monday thru Saturday. My question is, would you start with Disney and end your trip at US, or would you end with WDW? I need to decide pretty soon so I can make my PS for Cindy's breakfast.

 

[Luv2Travel]

That's a tough one. I prefer to start our vacation with US/IOA and end with WDW just because I like to save the best for last and I like to say goodbye to the MK at the end of our vacation. The only problem with doing US/IOA first is that you get real spoiled to using the FOTL perks if you stay onsite. I also like to do US/IOA on the weekend since that's when the parks tend to be the most crowded and we have FOTL priveleges at US/IOA. It looks like you'll end your vacation with a weekend, so I don't know if I'd save US/IOA for last or not. If you're going at the beginning of May, then the parks may not be so bad on the weekend. We're going down Memorial Day weekend, so we'll not set foot at WDW until the Tuesday after, we'll be at US/IOA first.

 

[Bellefan66]

I think they are two different parks. Disney is "Magical" and you won't see that w/ Universal. Universal however is more "ride oriented" IMHO. I'd start off w/ Universal, and end it with some "MAGIC".......

 

[DavidNYC]

Hello! We almost always add one day at Universal/IOA (we buy 3 days passes and just one day on each trip). The day we do varies by lots of factors. One big one is that we love the outdoor rollercoasters and the Popeye raft ride which gets you drenched so we almost always look at the weather report before we go and pick a day that looks like it will be nice (we can always do things like MGM and EPCOT on days that are a bit cooler or rainy without it really distracting at all. Of course this doesn't help if you have to decide way in advance but you can always make a couple of reservations and always cancel one if you find you want to move your IOA trip to a day you've made reservations for.

 

[Corporal_Radar]

universal to start with... but it depends on who you are going with... if you are going with small children, then disney would be the best bet to get that out of the way first... just incase of bad weather, or any other cases...

i am from floriday... only 20 min. away from universal and i go every weekened... i am going this weekened to see the go go's in concert for marti-gras, and then i am going march 9th to see linnard skinnard.((how ever you spell that)) but sence you are going in may, it will be hot down here, so dress cool.. (im sure you already know that)

anyways, universal i smore of a teenage, to adult park, based on all of the roller coasters at IOA and the revenge of the mummy ride at universal... there are height requirement...

you can take your kids on jaws... but then the may and probably will get scared... it is hard to enjoy a ride when you have some 5 year old screaming in your ear that they want to leave the ride, or they want their blanky...

in all and all, start with disney, get it out of the way, go to universal on a sunday... the majority of the people at universal are locals or people with annual passes, so go sunday, because the majority of the locals are going to be in church...

((helpfull universal tips))

when you go, get there before the park opens so that way you can get in all of the rides at universal before noon when the people start to flood in... then after noon, go over to IOA and spend the rest of the day there...

ride the rides that you have already done, but wouldlike to do again, 10 minutes before the park closes... the lines are wide open and you can go through the fast pass lines without any trouble... even f you do not have a fast pass...

before noon at universal... the waite for jaws, men in black, back to the future, the mummy and earthquake are only 5 min. long... for shrek 4-d, the waite before noone is 15 min along with jimmy neutron. if you go to shrek and jimmy neutron after noon, you are looking at a solid 85 min waite... especially during may...

for IOA, ride times: hulk, spiderman, dr.dooms fear fall, and deuling dragons*, you are looking at nothing more that a 25-40 min waite... for any other ride that is there, you only have to waite for 15-20min... ((excluding all of the shows))

*Deuling dragons waite time counts for the people waiting for front row... not for all of the other rows... the other rows are wide open...

I LOVE UNIVERSAL!!!!


now why cant i write something like this for school???

 

[msr709]

I guess I'm the minority here, I always start with WDW and end with USO. I usually stay 5 days at WDW and 3 at USO. Since I stay onsite at both places, I like to end with USO because the FOTL gives you a little more leisure and its a nice way to unwind and relax towards to the end of vacation. That FOTL can sure spoil you and the easy access to the parks is priceless, specially since I tend to go in the summer. JMHO! Either way you'll have a ball. Enjoy.

 

[ktglads]

We do WDW first and Universal second. It just seems that when you stay onsite at USO, you get so relaxed and don't have to run around the parks as much. Its tough to then move to a smaller hotel room and then have to wait in line at WDW. USO is a completely different atmosphere when you are staying onsite and never have to worry about lines or travelling between parks if you want to park hop.

 

[kutchyone]

If you are staying in a US/IO hotel do those parks after Disney. After waiting and walking so long at DW it will be much easier to tour parks if you can have front of the line access. In other words you will be so exhausted after DW that touring US will be like a walk in the park.

 

[paigevz]

we started WDW and switched to US/IOA.................I wouldn't do it that way again, it's so hard to leave the Mouse! Next time, I'd start US/IOA and end at WDW!

 

[Mainebound]

I guess I'm the minority here, I always start with WDW and end with USO. I usually stay 5 days at WDW and 3 at USO. Since I stay onsite at both places, I like to end with USO because the FOTL gives you a little more leisure and its a nice way to unwind and relax towards to the end of vacation. That FOTL can sure spoil you and the easy access to the parks is priceless, specially since I tend to go in the summer. JMHO! Either way you'll have a ball. Enjoy.

I totally agree. If you are staying onsite at Universal, end there. FOTL will spoil you!

Otherwise, just do what works best for your family.

 

[felinosaurus]

We are not staying onsite at US, therefore won't be able to take advantage of the front-of-line perk. Seems like that may make a difference in your advice.
Also, we are not park-hopping at WDW so we'll be restricted to one park per day.

Thanks for all your ideas!