would you do this ?

[MrsJ Henry]

Ok My husband and i have been planning on going to WDW Nov16-22. We are staying at the Yacht club (unless my cousin a cast member can get us her 1/2 off discount and then we are staying at the GF)
Now... he has been talking about wanting to go to Universal also.
After asking questions on here and lots of discussion we are thinking of doing this:

We will go two days earlier (14th)and stay at a Universal resort hotel.( don't know which one yet)
The day we get there we don't know if we will try to go to the parks or not. We will come in around 11:45 and we still have to get our rental as well as stop at the store. Then due to the time of year the parks will be closing earlier.

Day 2-- we will spend at Universal. We don't know about IOA since there are only a couple rides there that we would like.

Day 3-- possibly go back to the parks for the first part of the day and then move over to the Yacht club. That night we are planning on going to Chef Mickey and then to Poly to see the water parade and possibly catch some of MK fireworks.
During the day possibly go to DD if we don't spend too much time at Universal.

Day 4-- Go to EPCOT for EMH
Eat lunch at one of the WS restaurants
go back to resort for a couple hours
Have dinner at Cape May
Go back to world showcase and see Illuminations.

Day 5-- Go to MK for EMH
Eat lunch at counter service (Pecos bill ?)
go back to hotel for a couple hours in the afternoon
back to mk watch parade and wishes
Dinner somewhere along the way. Thinking about having it at the castle

Day 6-- Go to Animal Kingdom for EMH
Eat lunch counter service.
go back to resort around 2 or 3
Dinner at Beaches and Cream
not sure about later in day or early evening yet

Day 7--MGM EMH
Eat lunch at Sci-Fi ( husband wants to try it even though I've been and think so so)
the rest of the day is up in the air but we know we want to go to Fantasmic

Day 8--
Cape May for Character Breakfast
no parks... DD.... enjoy the resort etc....
Dinner at Whispering Canyon

Day 9--
possible breakfast somewhere and then Leave

We will be eating something light in our room in the am before we leave for parks.. We are not big breakfast people.
It is also just the two of us. No kids. And we are both 40
I've been to WDW several times but haven't been in like 8 years or so. DH has never been.

I'm also thinking of not saving that "day off from the parks" until the end.
I'm used to going to the parks from open to close every day i'm there but DH likes to take things slower and easier .

I also hear that many people like to go to Universal at the end of their trip but Due to it getting close to the holidays we added the two days in front instead of at the end.

So what great things am I missing? Does this plan sound good... what changes would you make?

 

[Kaycee]

I think your plans look pretty good. I've never been to Universal, but it sounds like you've planned well for that part of your trip.

One thing that we do differently than your plan is hop to a non-EMH park after our afternoon break. For example, I would leave your Day 4 and Day 5 mornings as they are, but I would flip your Day 4 and Day 5 evenings. And I would go to Fantasmic on the evening of Day 6 instead of Day 7. We do this because the EMH park gets really crowded later in the day. Of course, we visit at very busy times, so it may not be a problem when you travel.

We find that taking our non-park day in the middle of the trip is much more beneficial than using it at the end. That free day helps you rest up for more fun in the parks! Last year, we were feeling pretty good and were worried about the weather turning bad, so we saved our non park day until the end of the trip. It was kinda depressing knowing that we were still at WDW but we didn't have any more park time left.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

We just got back. We loved universal. If you stay in one of the universal resorts you get front of the line passes. Also if you want to save a little money check the Universal site on this board and find the 1/2 price Gift certicates for food. They said they would not be doing any Citywalk resturants until Sept so watch for them. We got them for HardRock and Motown. You pay $25 for a $50 lunch. Some are two $25's and some are one $50. You can use both $25 at one time. This helped our budget alot. We paid nothing but the tax and tip at both places.

 

[jcemom]

I think it sounds like a very nice trip! I, too, wouldn't go back to the EMH park in the evening, switching those around as Kaycee suggested. I would also put the non-park day as near the middle of the trip as possible.

We ate at Cinderella's last trip and enjoyed it very much. The food and atmosphere were both very nice.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We did Universal for the first time this time around and I have to say that IOA is worth teh admission just to ride Spiderman. I was BLOWN AWAY. Def get a hopper pass for Universal and hit the best of both. WIth FOTL, you'll really only need one full day there. I was able to do all I wanted to do in a morning with FOTL. You literally just walk right on. We spread it over 2 days, but I just went and did stuff in the mornings, and then went back to the pool for the afternoons. DH and DB went back after lunch for awhile to re-ride things.

We stayed at the Royal Pacific and it was GORGEOUS with an increidbly nice pool area.

I do have to say that if we had done WDW after Universal, we would have been disappointed due to FOTL. If you can figure out a way to end with that, it'll be best. But I know that may not be able to happen.

I think your plan sounds really good! Just give yourself lots of leeway and enjoy yourself =)

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Yes I hear what you are saying about picking a different park to go back to in the afternoon. Probably is a better idea. I also think you are right about having a day off from the parks more in the middle. I think that would help my husband also.
One of the reasons we want to stay in a Universal resort is because of fotl. We knew we would be dissapointed if we didn't do it.
Thank you Sarahsmom for the suggestion of the restaurant coupons. I'm going to check them out. I love coupons and saving!!!!! Especially for this trip. We seem to keep adding things and spending more money!!!

 

[MrsJ Henry]

We are now also looking to see if we can change our Yacht club ressies so that we can go to Universal at the end of our trip.
I think we will be much happier if we go to Disney first , from what I'm reading on the boards.