what would you do?

[mott]

So we are thinking of spending about 7-10 days in Orlando at the end of June. We will have 3 park days at Disney with old tickets. We would also spend 2 days at Universal and 2 days over at Kennedy.

So, I can spend $166 for an on site Disney hotel or only $70 for the Holiday Inn in DTD. This is where our bulk of days would be spent.

The cheapest onsite Universal hotel (with the express pass) is $270.

For budget reasons, I don't think we can swing both onsite. So I have 2 options:

1. Holiday Inn DTD + 1 night at Universal in order to get the express pass
or
2. Onsite Disney hotel only.

What would you do? Onsite at Disney only gets me early morning hours (as the extra magic hours at night are too late for our family). Onsite at Universal gets us express pass...Oh, and we will have a car.

Thanks!

 

[Bluer101]

I would stay onsite at Universal. There is no real benefit to staying onsite at Disney IMO. When we do Disney we stay onsite at Universal and drive down to Disney each day.

 

[itrek]

Agreed, I'd stay at Universal on site but I'd do it like this. They don't have annual pass rates out past June 9th yet for Universal. However, I'd book your best rate now (try for a AAA discount if you have a membership), then watch these boards for the annual pass discounts to be announced for the summer. If it makes sense, buy a single annual pass and rebook the room. What you save with the annual pass discount for the hotel will probably pay for the annual pass and then some. That's also one less ticket you'll have to pay for Universal, you can use the pass again if you can come back within a year, and you'll get front of the line privileges for the rides, and you get a discount at restaurants and shops. Not to mention the Universal hotels are fantastic. I've stayed at both Hard Rock and Royal Pacific many times. RP is a little cheaper but every bit as nice as HR.

 

[damo]

The end of June I would stay onsite. You only need to stay for one night to get two full days of early entry and unlimited express passes. Two nights would be lovely, though.

I wouldn't bother with staying onsite at Disney. Use the money you would save by staying offsite and use it to stay onsite at Universal. When a park has early entry at Disney, that is the park to avoid for that day.