What would you do?

[loribell]

I have a delima that I need some help with. We are going to WDW/UO from July 27th - Aug 12th. We were oroignally coming home on the 10th but when Disney announced the Pirate & Princess Parties starting again on the 11th we decided to stay for it.

Now on to my delima:

My sister and nieces are going to join us starting on the 4th and we all want to do UO. Because of the party we will have to be at the MK late on the night of the 11th. It looks llike we will have to break up our trip and stay at SSR the first 7 days, then RPR for 2, then back to SSR for the other 7 days. I hate the idea of having to move around like that. It is just so much more relaxing to just stay put and move once.

Then again, if we stay at RPR at then end of the trip we will have to be at the P & P Party late and drive back late afterwards. So, which way would you do it? Would you want to drive back that late after the party and then get up and leave the next morning?

Thanks for any input you can give!

 

[damo]

It is about a 20 minute drive that late at night to get back to RPR. It will take you probably at least 20 minutes to get back to SSR at that time of night via Disney transporation. I don't think it will make any difference.

 

[macraven]

i may have misunderstood your question.
you might change the dates around and stay at rph for the last 2 nights?
if so, you will drive to disney on the 11th?

if you were planning on doing 2 full days at universal, it might cut into your park time then if you do disney and commute back to rph late at night.
kind of hard to get everyone up early the next day to do the uo parks.

it is a toss up.
i can see where if you stay at disney, you will be quite weary when the p & p party is over and the ease of just taking a bus back to your disney room would be welcomed. for that reason, it would make sense to stay on disney property for that night.
its not too difficult to do a couple of resort switches during a vacation. it's not ideal but not unbearable.

many years ago i would start at disney, drive up to uo for 2 days and drive back to disney then relocate to on site at universal for the last 4 days of the trip. we would stay 14 days and were too anxious not to hit uo some days before we moved on site there during our vacation time.

it was doable but you are so much more relaxed when you can stay at one resort and not have to deal with driving at night. waking up rested the next day was a necessity when the kids were little for me.


i can see pros and cons on both sides of your question.
what does the rest of your group say on how they want to handle it or does it all fall upon you to make the decision?

 

[loribell]

Sorry, I was trying to do the post quickly since I was supposed to be getting things ready to go to my dads for Easter. So yes, I am trying to figure out whether or not we should switch our nights at RPR to the last weekend instead of moving twice.

We would have Friday & part of the day Saturday & Sunday if we switch. Of course on Saturday we will have to have a lot of rest time to be able to stay up for the party. Then on Sunday we will probably have trouble getting out of bed since we will be up so late. We will be leaving at some point on Sunday so that will mean we can't stay in the park late. Maybe you're right, when I write it out it really looks like it will dramatically impact our US/IOA park time.

Of course it falls on my shoulders to figure it out. DH is no help at all & my sister just has not been nearly as many times as we have so she completely trusts me with these types of decisions.

What to do!

 

[macraven]

i think you have answered your question.

don't stay at rph the last two nights of your trip. if you do, you will not be seeing everything at IOA, the studios, city walk, exploring the hotels, the pools, etc. you will be rushed and only seeing highlights what universal has to offer.


you would have to do the highlights of the park and hotel all on a friday.
on saturday, do the mornings at the park but go back to the hotel to rest up for the party. drive to disney, leave late then drive back to rph. on sunday, you end up sleeping in, check out of the hotel and do very little in the parks on your departure day.

i would do the switching of the hotels. keep rph plans in the middle of the trip.
stay at disney for the end so the plans will go smooth for the party.
do rph in the middle of your trip so you can enjoy it to the most.
if you rush at universal, you'll miss all the Mummy Dust it has to offer.

and, if you drive from rph to disney for the party, run into a traffic jam on I-4, get there late, all fingers and tears will be pointed at you........

enjoy the disney party the best way you can. stay on site there, take the bus back to the hotel when it is over late and sleep in on sunday before you check out.

you will have already done 2 days at rph in the middle of your trip. you will probably enjoy the UO trip so much, you will want to return there next vacation time.....and spend more time there to explore.

hope all of your vacation is great !

 

[loribell]

Oh we definetly love the Universal parks. We normally go on every trip. Unfortunately both times we were in Orlando in 06 we weren't able to make the Universal part happen.

I wish we could stay longer but with my sister joining us the second week it is kinda tough to fit in more time at Universal. I promised myself that on this trip we would take a lot of time relaxing around the resort and letting DH & DS sleep in. However, my sister wants to get there and get it done so she can head back home so there won't be much down time while she is there.

Some day I will be able to stay at one of the Universal hotels for a whole week. The times we have been before we have taken very little time to enjoy the resort.

Thanks so much for helping me answer my own question! I knew could help you guys could help me out. Hey maybe I can check in a day earlier and have a little down time at Universal too!