WDW / Universal combo trip

[Borgar]

Greetings!
We're planning our first trip to US/IoA this May/June, to see the new WWoHP. We figure a whole week would probably be too much for just Universal, since our daughters will be ages 6 and 8 -- too young for the big thrill rides there.

So we were thinking of rounding out the week with a few days at WDW. Wondering if anyone has any feedback/ideas on how to split this up. Here are thoughts that we have:

- We've been to WDW thrice before, so it's not like we have to commando through every inch of the parks.
- For the UO portion of the trip, we were thinking of staying at an on-site resort to get FOTL access.
- For the WDW portion, we were thinking of taking advantage of that 35% off deluxe resorts promotion.
- Time-wise, I'm thinking 3 days would probably be adequate to do UO, especially since we're not planning on riding the Hulk 87 times. That would leave 3 (maybe 4) days for WDW.
- We already bought the 7-day UO 2-park passes.

Thanks for your comments!

 

[Muppet_Girl]

It sounds like a really fun trip!

Here are my suggestions and ideas:

I think you are definitely best off staying on-site for Universal because of the perks.

As for Disney, since you are doing four full days and are not extremely concerned with covering every inch of the park, you may want to do straight Magic Your Way tickets. This will enable you do to a park a day for four days- you could do all four or repeat a park. This will allow you to save some money, which is always nice.

Before you go, you should figure out what attractions are priority. A fun way to do that is to give each of your kids a colored pen and the park map. Then tell them to circle or initial 3-5 attractions for park that they really really want to do. This will allow everyone to be happy and also allow you to have an organized approach to each park.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[BurleyGirl]

Hi, Borgar! We did a Universal/Disney trip in October '08, and loved it! We stayed three nights at Portofino at Universal, which we absolutely adored! Then, we stayed six nights at the Grand in Disney. This allowed us to visit each park one day, plus DisneyQuest and a water park, and have a "down" day at the resort, which we always enjoy being able to do. I don't know where you're thinking of staying, but the Grand or the Poly having the beach is great for the kids--my son loved coming back to the resort for an afternoon beach/sand break! Combining Universal and Disney makes a great trip! Have a great time. If I can help you in any other way for your planning, I'll be happy to!

 

[WDSearcher]

Keep an eye on the Universal website and make sure that what you want to see / ride at WWoHP is open in May / June. Universal's been a bit behind in opening things lately and, while I believe WWoHP is on schedule, you certainly don't want to plan a trip around it only to find out that the coasters or the dark ride or the show aren't open yet. It happened with both the Simpsons ride and Rip Ride Rockit, so best to keep an eye out for news!

Also, WWoHP will be opening in stages -- some stuff will open in the spring / summer with the full land open by the end of 2010. So again ... be sure that the parts of it you want to see will be open when you get there!

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

We've done a US/IoA ....WDW visit the last 3 times...'08, '06, and '04 as a family....and DS & I popped over to US/IoA for a day back in May 09.

As a WDW Fanatic...I will tell you IMHO...US/IoA is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT animal than WDW...

I see it as 'just a theme park'...the lines are totally different...and the planning is different/ non-existent.

We have always been able to do US/IoA in ONE Day...our 3 kids are similar in age...so that helps...but then your kids are close as well.

I'll probably try a US resort the next visit...however the plan the last 4 visits has been to save as much $ as possible...so we've stayed off site... my fav is the Comfort Suites / Major Blvd (same street as US/IoA).

FOTL passes have never been an issue...I've never waited longer than 25 minutes...at US/IoA...and that was for my FAV ride of all "THe Simpsons". Many attractions at US/IoA are just PLAIN missable...to me.
(We usually go to US/IoA Fourth of July...so it's pretty busy too...)

Dis-Mail me if you have any specific questions....I'd love to help...and I still have my old guide map from last year...if you have logistics questions re: rides and attractions.

Hugs,
Mary