Wowza.

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

So. A 10 day Disney holiday staying at the Universal's Aventura resort (not the most expensive hotel in the world) with flights, park tickets (cheaper than you guys in America), food, transport and extra spending money racks up a bill of… over £4,000!

Up until now I've made a conscious effort to avoid America (out of protest at the country's politics) but just watching back some park footage, I think Disney comes up on top! I'll have to save for several months (which is good, as it will be cooler later in the year), but I don't WANNA wait! I WANNA go now!

And that's ignoring Universal tickets, which I would quite like!

 

[lanejudy]

A 10 day Disney holiday staying at the Universal's Aventura resort

A Disney vacation? or a Universal vacation? I would not stay at a Universal resort for a 10-day WDW vacation.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

A Disney vacation? or a Universal vacation? I would not stay at a Universal resort for a 10-day WDW vacation.

I only pick Universal's Aventura as a) it's not too shabby and b) for me, it turns out the be cheaper than the cheapest Disney hotel.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'd agree that maybe staying at a WDW hotel would be best for that portion of your trip, either for the free parking at parks or using their transportation. For any other sort of day I prefer Universal due to current room prices at WDW which are way too high these days for anything other than park days IMO.

Universal is opening up a new park in May of this year (which looks like it will be completely gorgeous) so I expect it is going to be jammed. If you want to go I'd suggest grabbing tickets and planning that part of it, including dining reservations and rental car as soon as you possibly can. They will charge for parking even if you are on site but they do have transportation.

As an aside, there is an adorable IOA to Universal Harry Potter train/ride you can only go on if you have a 2 park ticket - I thought it was worth it as everything HP related was lovely.

Over at WDW there were a bunch of wonderful new things too. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I'd agree that maybe staying at a WDW hotel would be best for that portion of your trip, either for the free parking at parks or using their transportation. For any other sort of day I prefer Universal due to current room prices at WDW which are way too high these days for anything other than park days IMO.

Universal is opening up a new park in May of this year (which looks like it will be completely gorgeous) so I expect it is going to be jammed. If you want to go I'd suggest grabbing tickets and planning that part of it, including dining reservations and rental car as soon as you possibly can. They will charge for parking even if you are on site but they do have transportation.

As an aside, there is an adorable IOA to Universal Harry Potter train/ride you can only go on if you have a 2 park ticket - I thought it was worth it as everything HP related was lovely.

Over at WDW there were a bunch of wonderful new things too. Enjoy your trip!

Oh my word, HOW CAN I NOT KNOW THIS?! Man, I am SO out of the loop! I'm still trying to get my head around the new FastPass system! lol!

 

[sam_gordon]

I only pick Universal's Aventura as a) it's not too shabby and b) for me, it turns out the be cheaper than the cheapest Disney hotel.

It might be cheaper, but "time is money", and, at least IMO, you will waste a LOT of time traveling to/from Universal to Disney. I suggest doing a split stay... stay in/around Disney when you plan to do those parks and at Aventura when you plan to do Universal.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Oh my word, HOW CAN I NOT KNOW THIS?! Man, I am SO out of the loop! I'm still trying to get my head around the new FastPass system! lol!

I had no idea about the other park either until we were literally inside the Universal & IOA and saw the mockup, it looks outrageous. The New park is not on the same plot of land as the other two but it isn't too far either, they have newer resorts near it. If you don't mind a suggestion, I would purchase the multi day tickets for Universal ASAP and pick the expected date range with a little wiggle room. As I understand it ticket dates can be rescheduled but there is no refund outside of a package with travel insurance so I'd start with a 3 day, you can always add on. I think we did insurance with our most recent WDW & Universal trips, between Covid and the world being upside down it seems to make sense these days when it is a thing I never ever did before - I think it included airfare.

The Fastpass was less awful than expected once we started to use it. I sort of wish Disney offered a simulator to help manage the stress of it, I was terribly anxious leading up to the trip. In all honesty I'd suggest watching a bunch of vloggers, I found that watching other people talk me through it made a lot more sense than endlessly reading instructions without context.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Oh my word, HOW CAN I NOT KNOW THIS?! Man, I am SO out of the loop! I'm still trying to get my head around the new FastPass system! lol!