Would you take 1 or 2 days away from WDW to do Universal??

[Mainebound]

We have a trip in Dec and I'm thinking of extending it by a night or 2 to do Universal before our stay at WDW. We have young children (ages 2 & 5) so I know there are a lot of rides we won't be seeing this time. Sure, we might do 1 or 2 w/ kid swap...but basically the trip would be about seeing the things appropriate for our children. We'd plan on staying at Hard Rock or Royal Pacific.

Couple of questions:
1) Anyone tell me first hand what it's like w/ young children there? Seems to be more for them to enjoy than I originally thought.

2) Would we be making a mistake only doing 1 day at US and not staying for 2 so we can park hop to IOA?

Any info'n or tips would really be appreciated!!! I am sooooo at home w/ Disney, having visited the mouse so many times! Planning this excursion to US has me in unchartered territory! LOL Any info'n on the hotels would be helpful too!!! I know Royal Pacific is a little less.....but the pics on the official website didn't look too appealing. Is it nice??

Thank you very much!!!

We first "took a few days away from WDW" in MArch 2004 with our boys, then ages 2 and 4. After staying at the Swan for 5 nights, we stayed at the Hard Rock for three nights, spending 1 full day at each park, and a third morning hitting the highlights of both.

This year (the boys are now 3 and 5) we visited Universal parks on 3 days but we stayed offsite most of the trip in a pool home (followed by three onsite WDW days). In our 11 day trip, we had 7 park days at WDW, 3 at Universal.

We love Universal and we loved the Hard Rock Hotel. We loved ending our 2004 trip at the Hard Rock because WDW can be so hectic and it takes so long to get everywhere. At the Hard Rock, we were at the Studios in 5 minutes on foot, and IOA within 8 minutes. You can walk everywhere in minutes flat. You don't have to plan your itinerary at all, because your room key gets you to the front of the line (never more than a 10 minutes wait) at rides and restaurants with very few exceptions. This makes it VERY VERY REALAXING.

Of course, having been twice with preschoolers, I have definite opinions about whether it is "worth it" to bring kids that young. If you look at the photos of my beaming 5 year old with Capatin America or Spiderman or the Rugrats, or my giggling 3 year old with Barney, Shrek, or the Cat in the Hat, you will guess my answer!

Send me a PM if you'd like any more info!

 

[beattyfamily]

We have a trip in Dec and I'm thinking of extending it by a night or 2 to do Universal before our stay at WDW. We have young children (ages 2 & 5) so I know there are a lot of rides we won't be seeing this time. Sure, we might do 1 or 2 w/ kid swap...but basically the trip would be about seeing the things appropriate for our children. We'd plan on staying at Hard Rock or Royal Pacific.

Couple of questions:
1) Anyone tell me first hand what it's like w/ young children there? Seems to be more for them to enjoy than I originally thought.

2) Would we be making a mistake only doing 1 day at US and not staying for 2 so we can park hop to IOA?

Any info'n or tips would really be appreciated!!! I am sooooo at home w/ Disney, having visited the mouse so many times! Planning this excursion to US has me in unchartered territory! LOL Any info'n on the hotels would be helpful too!!! I know Royal Pacific is a little less.....but the pics on the official website didn't look too appealing. Is it nice??

Thank you very much!!!

We've been splitting our stay between WDW and Universal since our 2nd WDW trip in 2000. We enjoy both very much ESPECIALLY in December. IOA has Whoville and the Grinch!

We usually start with WDW and end with Universal/IOA onsite. We usually spend 2 nights there for FOTL access. Being onsite and being able to walk to the parks is great! HRH has a GREAT pool and is a 10 minute walk.

We usually rent a car to get from the airport to WDW and WDW to Universal and then back to the airport. It's so worth it for the convenience and the price. Its so easy to get everywhere and its great to have a car for eating offsite at night at Universal and for resort hopping at WDW etc...there are many reasons its convenient.

Our girls are 5 and 8 and have been going to Universal since they were 1 and 4.

At IOA they love:
-Suess Landing
-Cat In the Hat
-One Fish, Two Fish
-Whoville and the Grinch!
-Pteranodon Flyers
-Flying Unicorn
-Spiderman

I LOVE Dueling Dragons and Hulk!

At Universal they love:
-Shrek 4-D!!!!!!!!!
-Jimmy Newtron (new)
-Barney Show
-ET
-Curious George play area
-Woody Wood Pecker Roller Coaster
-MIB
-T-2
-Twister
-Back to the Future
-Earthquake
-Jaws
For me, the new Mummy ride!

I would stay there 2 nights if possible but I have to only do one night this year.

 

[missminniemouse]

Personally, I wouldn't waste the time or money on US. Never been to IOA, so can't comment on it. We had the worst time when we were to US. Too many things that aren't suitable for children, rides that are way too rough even for our taste. When a very heavy camera goes flying over your shoulder from the force of the ride in Back to the Future, I consider it way too rough. Thank goodness no damage was done to the camera. The grounds at US were not as well kept up as at WDW and there was a lot of line hopping going on. The people who were there were rather rude by comparison to those at Disney. The food in the restaurants absolutely sucked. Do you get the idea that I'm not headed back anytime soon.

We also had an evening at US through a promotion our company threw a few years ago. They left 5 of their "most popular" attractions open through the evening for our group. The only problem was that not a single one of those was appropriate for a 3 year old and a pregnant woman. We had the most boring time sitting around while DH went on a few rides. Needless to say, we headed back to our resort (the GF at WDW) with one of the earlier buses.

We do however love Sea World. That is definately worth taking the time for. Even little kids find a lot of things to do and love there. We consider Sea World to be a very close second to Disney in the way it presents things and its cleanliness. Food is extremely pricey for what you get, but at least it was edible. Our kids at ages 9 and 5 have been to Sea World several times and are always just as ready to go back there as they are to Disney.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Do it. I would if I have at least 4 days with Disney and then I would add at least 2 days with Universal. We have done split a few times. My kids who are now 6 and 8 love Universal just as much as Disney. Though most of the attractions are for older kids, my children enjoys US/IOA has to offer them. We love staying on Universal property. This gives us the FOTL. It is a beautiful thing!!

Remember you post this on Disney resort board...try posting your thread on Universal board and you might find more "FOR Universal." I for one LOVE Disney and Universal. After visiting Universal, we got hooked on their properties and FOTL!!

 

[ms.ojo]

I thought about posting it on the Universal board but really wanted the input of Disney-aholics like mysefl.

You all are making good cases for and against. I've since found out the Entertainment book discount was not as good as the AAA discount for the time period I'm visiting. I find that very strange. May call back again to confirm all the #s w/ another rep at AAA and at The Entertainment book place.

Someone asked the ages of my children...we have a ds 5 who loves small roller coasters and is looking forward to trying Thunder Mtn & Space Mtn this trip. Not sure which roller coasters at Univ. would be appropriate to start him out on. He is a big Star Wars fan....and Scooby Doo. Dd will be turning 3 the end of our trip. She LOVES Scooby, Barney and Spiderman!!!! I know she can't ride Spiderman....but to be able to maybe meet him would thrill her!

Hmmm....the grinch and whoville!! That would be neat! Maybe I should make Universal AFTER our Disney trip. That would mean 12/9 & 10 vs. 11/27-29. I've heard Universal isn't as quick as Disney for getting their Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving.

 

[beattyfamily]

Someone asked the ages of my children...we have a ds 5 who loves small roller coasters and is looking forward to trying Thunder Mtn & Space Mtn this trip. Not sure which roller coasters at Univ. would be appropriate to start him out on. He is a big Star Wars fan....and Scooby Doo. Dd will be turning 3 the end of our trip. She LOVES Scooby, Barney and Spiderman!!!! I know she can't ride Spiderman....but to be able to maybe meet him would thrill her!

Hmmm....the grinch and whoville!! That would be neat! Maybe I should make Universal AFTER our Disney trip. That would mean 12/9 & 10 vs. 11/27-29. I've heard Universal isn't as quick as Disney for getting their Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving.

The decorations and Whoville will already be there and up and running. I'm going to IOA/Universal Nov 25 and 26. Whoville startes a week or two before Thanksgiving.

Universal has the Woody Woodpecker rollercoast that a 4 year old can ride and IOA has the Unicorn rollercoaster that a 4 year old can ride. Both very tame like Goofy's Barnstormer but better; not over quite as fast.

 

[ms.ojo]

The decorations and Whoville will already be there and up and running. I'm going to IOA/Universal Nov 25 and 26. Whoville startes a week or two before Thanksgiving.

Universal has the Woody Woodpecker rollercoast that a 4 year old can ride and IOA has the Unicorn rollercoaster that a 4 year old can ride. Both very tame like Goofy's Barnstormer but better; not over quite as fast.

Thanks for all the good info'n in both your posts!!!! The roller coasters sound great! We have some at Santa's Village & Storyland in NH that are both a bit "more" than the Barnstormer that he loved last summer.

I just wish there was a "moderate" option for staying onsite at Universal. It's hard to spend over $200/night!!

 

[beattyfamily]

Thanks for all the good info'n in both your posts!!!! The roller coasters sound great! We have some at Santa's Village & Storyland in NH that are both a bit "more" than the Barnstormer that he loved last summer.

I just wish there was a "moderate" option for staying onsite at Universal. It's hard to spend over $200/night!!

You are welcome! I know the price is high. When I first started going right up until 2003 I could get HRH for between $117 to $150. This year I'm paying $234 with AAA I think.

I forgot to mention in my last post that there is no more Entertainment book discounts at Universal starting this year. All there is now is AAA and AP discount.

 

[ms.ojo]

You are welcome! I know the price is high. When I first started going right up until 2003 I could get HRH for between $117 to $150. This year I'm paying $234 with AAA I think.

I forgot to mention in my last post that there is no more Entertainment book discounts at Universal starting this year. All there is now is AAA and AP discount.

I just got off the phone w/ the Entertainment book people. Apparently the 2005 book does cover the dates I want to travel in Nov....but the discount wasn't much. They quoted me: HRC at $229/nite...plus passes. I believe the rack rate for this time period is $234/night from Universal's official site. I was under the impression Ent book discounts were much better??!?? OH well, will have to explore AAA. over on the Universal boards someone posted about a good AAA deal w/ length of stay passes.

 

[sunny04]

I would take one or two days away from Universal to do WDW!! In fact I have before! Whatever you choose, you will have fun, but always remember that Universal is FUN while WDW is MAGIC. You will have the same magical experience at Universal, so choose what you are looking for.

 

[Kellydelly]

We LOVE Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure! We've gone the last three years with our little ones. Last December we took our almost 5 yr old, 2.5 yr old and 10 month old twins. We usually get the passes that are 5 days for less than $100 and we spend one day at IOA, one day at US, then a day that mixes up both parks. I have no problem watching the little ones while my husband rides the coasters, we swap who is tending the kids and who is riding. There are plenty of things for your 5 yr old to ride. He can do all the rides in Seuss Landing and also the Spiderman ride, The water rides, The Flying Unicorn, The Pteronodan (sp) Flyers. It's not a big park so it's very doable in a few hours. US has some great new shows. Shrek, Jimmy Neutron is hilarious ! There are plenty of rides and amusements for young children. We usually spend just one day at the Magic Kingdom and the rest of our trip at US/IOA. We rent private homes instead of staying on property.

I have to warn you that IOA does not do their Whoville (the Grinch) shows or decorations until the second week of December now. When we were there 2 years ago the week after Thanksgiving stuff was out but last year we were there the first week of December and it wasn't going on yet .

 

[ms.ojo]

We LOVE Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure! We've gone the last three years with our little ones. Last December we took our almost 5 yr old, 2.5 yr old and 10 month old twins. We usually get the passes that are 5 days for less than $100 and we spend one day at IOA, one day at US, then a day that mixes up both parks. I have no problem watching the little ones while my husband rides the coasters, we swap who is tending the kids and who is riding. There are plenty of things for your 5 yr old to ride. He can do all the rides in Seuss Landing and also the Spiderman ride, The water rides, The Flying Unicorn, The Pteronodan (sp) Flyers. It's not a big park so it's very doable in a few hours. US has some great new shows. Shrek, Jimmy Neutron is hilarious ! There are plenty of rides and amusements for young children. We usually spend just one day at the Magic Kingdom and the rest of our trip at US/IOA. We rent private homes instead of staying on property.

I have to warn you that IOA does not do their Whoville (the Grinch) shows or decorations until the second week of December now. When we were there 2 years ago the week after Thanksgiving stuff was out but last year we were there the first week of December and it wasn't going on yet .

Love to her these good reviews from families w/ young children!!! What was it like not staying on site and being able to use the FOTL perk?? It just urks me to pay over $200/night to stay at Hard Rock when it's value season at Disney and I can get a great room for so much less w/ AAA.

 

[Kellydelly]

You can rent a private pool home for $525 for 7 nites. I don't think you can beat that. We have rented homes the last 3 years (you really have to with babies!). Of course you need a car to get around, though (we always drive down from MI). Universal has 5 day passes for $99 each right now (the kind you can use for both parks). I am not familiar with what FOTL means ?

 

[beattyfamily]

I have to warn you that IOA does not do their Whoville (the Grinch) shows or decorations until the second week of December now. When we were there 2 years ago the week after Thanksgiving stuff was out but last year we were there the first week of December and it wasn't going on yet .

Yes, I just found this out and I'm really bummed. I've gone to Grinchmas in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 and skipped it in 2004. All those times Grinchmas started right before Thanksgiving so we were always safe going the week afer Thanksgiving. I'm SO bummed.

 

[Luv4Disney]

We took time away from Disney one year to do Universal and were very unhappy! We bought two day tickets (you get a third for "free") and only wound up using 1 day! All their fast passes (I forget what they call them in Universal) were gone by 10 o'clock...AM! It was so ridiculous and the lines were like, 4 hours long. Plus, our lunch was just disgusting. And go figure, they asked us to complete a survey for them. Their last question was: Are we A. Better than Disney B. Equal to Disney or C. Worse than Disney. (Who actually asks those sort of things!?) I was like, sorry...that would be C. So, we lost money on those other two days and bought more tickets for Disney. ::shrug:: But that's just us.

 

[1BigDisneyFan]

Our vacations to Orlando are usually 8 - 9 days long and generally consist of 6 days of Disney and 2 days of US/IOA. I have a 7 year old and 4 year old, who have been going since they were 5 and 2 respectively. Although there are some attractions which are definitely not geared towards the littleones (Jaws, Earthquake, Dr. Doom's Free Fall and the Hulk spring instantly to mind), there are things to entertain the littleones at both parks:

At Universal:
- Your 5 year old may get a blast out of shooting Aliens at Men In Black
- Both Kids will have fun running around in Curious George's water area
- Your little one may enjoy visiting Barney at his live show
- Your kids may have fun at the Woody Woodpecker mini-coaster
- Maybe they will enjoy the Animal Planet Animal Show
- Your older one could go Back To the Future
- Your 5 year old may get a kick out of Shrek 4-D or Have a Blast with Jimmy Neutron in the Nickelodeon studios area

At Islands of Adventure:
- Your kids can pose with a number of Marvel Superheroes
- Kids who are over 40" can take a ride on the Spiderman ride (careful with the younger one, there are some scary scenes)
- Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges are a good water rapids ride especially on hot days
- Your five year old might enjoy the Jurrassic Park experience (if he isn't to scared of dinosaurs)
- The Suessland has plenty of rides fit for both kids ages ONe-Fish Two-Fish, Cat in the Hat, the Car-O-Suess-el and more.
- There is another water splash area in Suessland.

Personally, I love Disney but don't consider it treason to enjoy a day or two and another location. Personally two days are about it for me, then I go back to getting my Disney fix. But I do think that you will find plenty to do at Universal with your kids.

I have never stayed at Universal, I usually rent a car and take the 10 minute drive over, so I can't tell you what FOTL is like.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[ms.ojo]

KellyDelly: FOTL stands for "front of the line" It is a perk guests who stay on-site at Universal Studios get to take advantage of. On ANY ride, a guest shows their hotel key and gets to enter a special queue that puts them "front of the line" The wait is supposedly never longer than 10mins. So when you stay offsite, do you use their fast pass system? (similar to Disneys) Does that work ok for you? I just think this FOTL thing sounds really good....but I hate paying over $200/night to get it! kwim?

1BigDisneyFan: How have you found the waits w/out FOTL??? Do you uses their fast pass system?

I'd really lilke to do Universal for 1 or 2 days...but the hotel expense is just killing me! I'm so glad I started this thread though....some GREAT tips for going w/ young children. Thank you all VERY much!!!!

 

[Kellydelly]

Duh! I was trying to figure out what that meant! We would never vacation at a crowded time, so having the FOTL feature isn't something I worry about ? We only go when crowds are down. Or supposed to be down! Universal has never been crowded when we went. The longest wait was 40 minutes for the dueling dragon coaster. If anyone was waiting 4 hours in line for something it must have been the peakest of peak time. The week after Thanksgiving is a great time to go. I guess how important that FOTL thing is would be determined on when your trip is? Thanksgiving week, yeah, I'd want that. Any holiday week you'd want that feature. During the summer I guess you'd want it too, or during spring break. We use the fast passes but really hardly need them.

 

[1BigDisneyFan]

Like all amusement parks, the lines depend on when you go. I enjoy going to Orlando on the 3rd week of September, at that time lines are not bad at all. Last year I went the 3rd week in April.

Lines there on the major attractions were 45 minutes or so - long - but tolerable for the most part for my kids. This year we are planning to go in June, so I am expected a longer line this time around.

I ALWAYS use fastpass when it is available. Especially for the "big-ticket" rides. I really do suggest using them at Universal (and Disney for that matter). And if you guys are going to try the more grown-up rides (like the Mummy Returns) - don't forget the parent swap!

 

[*Fantasia*]

Love to her these good reviews from families w/ young children!!! What was it like not staying on site and being able to use the FOTL perk?? It just urks me to pay over $200/night to stay at Hard Rock when it's value season at Disney and I can get a great room for so much less w/ AAA.

When you start using your FOTL access...believe me you won't be urking. $200 a night is sooo worth it! When you have small children..you will thank youself for staying on Universal property. You will love Hard Rock Hotel and Portofino Bay and Royal Pacific. They are beautiful resorts. You are so in the middle of action. You can take the bus or water taxi or just simply walk it to the parks and CityWalk. The service is superb. Our favorite resort is RPR..see my tag? Enjoy Universal!! You'll have a blast...so will your kids!