Which Day/Days for Universal?

[have2getaway]

We will be going in mid-January next year to Disney and are adding on either one or two days at Universal. It is me, DH, and our triplet boys, age 8. We are planning to buy 1 night at the Royal Pacific for Express Pass and May opt to stay and add on a second day ticket. My question is which day/days would be best for us to go to Universal? Our boys love the stunt show at Disney and we would like to try to see Fast & Furious. Is that something that would run every day at Universal in January? If not, which days would it show? Also, we are staying at the Polynesian and will be on the Disney Dining plan, but we will need to eat while at Universal, so I am looking for suggestions on places to eat, dining plan, etc.? We would like to have a fun experience, including dining, but do want to keep the amount reasonable since we are paying for Disney dining as well. On a side note, our first choice was to stay at Portafino Bay, but we LOVE the Magical Express and didn’t want to give that up, so...we will be paying for a night at the Polynesian and couldn’t justify simultaneously paying for a room at PBH. We really can’t justify paying for an additional room any night we are staying at the Polynesian, but we would prefer to try Universal out for a day in this manner and keep the ME. Just curious what the best way to get from Disney to Royal Pacific is or Universal in general? I’ve heard Universal offers some sort of “Take Two” for transport from Disney to their resort. Is that both ways, or just to Royal Pacific and how does it work? We figured, if we get there and are not able to do what we want in a day, we would have the option to upgrade our ticket, stay the night and do more the next day. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated.

 

[damo]

Fast and Furious is a ride. It will be running like any other ride.

You can contact Mears for transportation but with the 5 of you, it might be cheaper just to get a cab.

Any day will be fine in mid January with express. It shouldn't be very busy. Just avoid school holidays and Saturdays.

 

[bchbetha]

Uber or Lyft are totally easy and cost effective. I’d not opt for a shuttle. They’d be my first choice for transportation. It really is convenient...I’m not sure ME is even necessary nowadays. I’d put Universal at the end of your trip and just go via ridesharing to the airport. Door to door transport for $15-20.
No need for a dining plan. Check out the food stickies for menus. You’ll save $ by getting free cups of ice water and sharing things. Several restaurants have large meals to share (heck, my little guy and I can share a regular burger and fry too ). If you like the convenience of pre-paying for food, by gift cards. At least you won’t be locked into only buying food with the $.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Take everything you know about planning for Disney and forget about it for your TWO day stay at Uni. Buying one night at Royal Pacific gets you two days of Express Pass, so just plan on buying a 2 day ticket. Imagine staying one night at the Poly and getting unlimited Fast Passes for two days at your 2 favorite Disney Parks. Yes, it's that awesome...

With unlimited EP, all days are good to go, but I recommend going later in your stay, because I want you to still enjoy WDW, and Uni might ruin it for you...

Fast and the Furious will be an indoor ride, always open and running just like any ride, not really a show. Sinbad in IofA is a live action stunt show that you might want to check out, times will be listed in multiple places, EP works for that as well, so you will have a pick from the best seats.

You have a year, and you really only need about 90 minutes to plan. Jump on the website and look at the park maps - get a feel for the layout and know the entrance to the 2 parks are less than a 5 minute walk from each other. Look at the IPs that your 8 year olds will like, there will be plenty.

Look at the menu sticky, all of the menus are there, so you will know your food budget to nearly the penny. There are wonderfully themed table service and counter service throughout.

That is about the extent of your planning. Pack an overnight bag to bring with you (include your bathing suit), there is a sticky on transportation as well.

 

[have2getaway]

Take everything you know about planning for Disney and forget about it for your TWO day stay at Uni. Buying one night at Royal Pacific gets you two days of Express Pass, so just plan on buying a 2 day ticket. Imagine staying one night at the Poly and getting unlimited Fast Passes for two days at your 2 favorite Disney Parks. Yes, it's that awesome...

With unlimited EP, all days are good to go, but I recommend going later in your stay, because I want you to still enjoy WDW, and Uni might ruin it for you...

Fast and the Furious will be an indoor ride, always open and running just like any ride, not really a show. Sinbad in IofA is a live action stunt show that you might want to check out, times will be listed in multiple places, EP works for that as well, so you will have a pick from the best seats.

You have a year, and you really only need about 90 minutes to plan. Jump on the website and look at the park maps - get a feel for the layout and know the entrance to the 2 parks are less than a 5 minute walk from each other. Look at the IPs that your 8 year olds will like, there will be plenty.

Look at the menu sticky, all of the menus are there, so you will know your food budget to nearly the penny. There are wonderfully themed table service and counter service throughout.

That is about the extent of your planning. Pack an overnight bag to bring with you (include your bathing suit), there is a sticky on transportation as well.

Wow! It sounds pretty incredible. I’m still second guessing our decision to go to Iniversal while we are still paying for our room at Disney. Are you familiar with Royal Pacific? It looked the most similar to the Polynesian, which is why I chose it. That and the fact that it was the cheapest deluxe with EP. I’m still on the fence if we should give up ME one way and stay at Portofino Bay for one night, which was our first choice. DH and I figured RPR was closest to the parks and less expensive, which would help with the combined trip expense.

 

[have2getaway]

Fast and Furious is a ride. It will be running like any other ride.

You can contact Mears for transportation but with the 5 of you, it might be cheaper just to get a cab.

Any day will be fine in mid January with express. It shouldn't be very busy. Just avoid school holidays and Saturdays.

My boys will really be excited now. We thought it was a stunt show for some reason.

Regarding the cab, cabs will take 5 people?

 

[have2getaway]

Are we going about this the right way? Is Royal Pacific at least comparable to the Polynesian? We really wanted to stay at Portofino or hard rock? but couldn’t justify paying for the Polynesian room at the same time.

 

[bchbetha]

Unlike Disney, none of the hotels are far! You might be looking at a max 5-10 minute difference so no need to pick based on location really. All will be fine. HRH is closest but, like I said, not a crazy difference.
I don’t bother with overpriced cabs anymore but they do have minivans (as do Uber and Lyft ) so no problem with 5 passengers.
I really think you should look into ending your Disney portion and moving over to Universal to end it. No reason to pay for 2 rooms that way. Any $ you have to pay in transportation will be a lot less than a phantom hotel room.

 

[have2getaway]

Unlike Disney, none of the hotels are far! You might be looking at a max 5-10 minute difference so no need to pick based on location really. All will be fine. HRH is closest but, like I said, not a crazy difference.
I don’t bother with overpriced cabs anymore but they do have minivans (as do Uber and Lyft ) so no problem with 5 passengers.
I really think you should look into ending your Disney portion and moving over to Universal to end it. No reason to pay for 2 rooms that way. Any $ you have to pay in transportation will be a lot less than a phantom hotel room.

5-10 minutes. We can certainly handle that. Do we get early entry to the park the day after our stay, the day of, or both? I was guessing it was the next morning, but it would be great it it was both.

 

[bchbetha]

5-10 minutes. We can certainly handle that. Do we get early entry to the park the day after our stay, the day of, or both? I was guessing it was the next morning, but it would be great it it was both.

It’s both days.

 

[schumigirl]

I don’t think you’ll regret going to RPR.

As for the question is it comparable to the Poly.......I think it’s nicer........I think the Poly is a bit dark for us.....RP is beautiful, but of course I am biased apparently.......

It takes us less than 10 minutes to walk to IOA every morning......few minutes more to Studios, and it’s a lovely walk too........

And as others have said, you do get EE for both days of a one night stay.......

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

I have never stayed at Portofino, so I can't comment, but it seems to be loved by those who frequent it. However, we always take a boat over to eat at Sal's, which we think has the best pizza at Uni.

Hard Rock is technically closest to the parks (at least the entrance of UO).

I have never been to the Poly as well, but I can't imagine it being that much nicer than RPR. I say that as a family that does not do "luxury"hotels, so RPR always blows us away. If all of the deluxes were the same price, we would stay at Hard Rock, that is the vibe we like best (splitting hairs). But, we normally go for 7 to 8 nights, and at $50-$75 more per night, we know we can spend that $500 on other loves at Uni (breakfast buffets, Blue Man Group, etc).

My opinion - shorten your stay at Poly and go to Uni at beginning or end. When we go to Orlando on a budget, we stay at a Sea World partner hotel and get a package through Sea World. We add a night stay at Uni for 2 days express like you are thinking - but we are only paying $85 per night at Sea World. Easily justifiable to pay for both and just take an overnight bag to Uni. At Poly rates, I would not make the same decision. My two cents.

Also, you get full amenities at Royal Pacific on your check out day. So, you can "check out" and keep your luggage at the luggage service counter and go tour the parks. You can still swim, use the locker rooms, etc. with your room key. If you pack appropriately, you can have your travel clothes in one bag and shower/change using the locker rooms by the pool after you tour the parks that day. The locker rooms are quite nice. We have only used these facilities at Royal Pacific, but I am sure it is the same policy at Portofino or Hard Rock.

 

[OMGBecky]

We did a split stay at the Polynesian and Portofino Bay in September, and honestly I thought the Portofino was nicer...and MUCH cheaper than the Polynesian. We took our 4 year old, and she talks more about the Universal rides than the Disney rides, although she absolutely loved both. My husband and I liked the pace (and Express passes!!) much more at Universal. We're actually going back and doing a split stay again at the Poly and Royal Pacific Resort. This time we're spending more days at Universal than Disney. There's really so much to do and see. Personally I'd never double book when staying at the Polynesian just because of the cost. The Magical Express is convenient, but sooo not worth double booking in my opinion. I agree with others who said to do a split stay. I'd do Disney first, then Universal (at least 2-3 days there if you can) and just get a taxi back to the airport. Your boys will have a blast.

 

[OMGBecky]

Also, to answer your other question about food at Universal, we ate dinner at Toothsome (desserts were YUM!) and at Antojitos, which was a fun atmosphere with their live band and the margaritas and food were pretty good. We had dinner at Mythos, which was supposed to be really good, but I thought it was just ok. What I really loved was breakfast each morning outside at Trattoria Del Porto by the little bay at Portofino, so if you end up staying there I'd really recommend that. It was such a relaxing start to our day. At the parks we ate at Three Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron. The food was ok at both, but we were mainly there for the atmosphere. We had lunch along with a giant doughnut in the Simpsons food court area that was pretty good. This next trip we're going to try to make it to Cowfish in City Walk and I've heard good things about Vivo, too. Overall I enjoyed the food more at Universal than at Disney. And we didn't even pay for our Disney dining (free dining promo).