your best strategy to include Universal into your Disney Vacation

[Ashley Nadeau]

How do you include Universal into your vacation? I heard doing it at the end can kind of end your vacation on a less high note and doing it at the beginning isn't as fun because you're so excited to go to Disney. I've done both Universal and Disney, so I know what to expect from both, but the last time I went to both on the same trip I was younger and didn't have a choice. Now that my own trip is being planned under way with my boyfriend we want to know how you incorporate Universal into your trips. Do you like it at the beginning, middle, or end of your vacation? And why? Is transportation an issue? Thank you!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I am doing it at the end next trip because I want to change to a Universal resort. I don't know why that would be a let down - Diagon Alley might be the highlight of the whole trip for us! Transportation has to be arranged - both to Universal and to the airport at the end, so that is a bit of a pain.

We have done it in the middle without staying at Universal, and we've done a mostly Universal trip with a night of Disney in the middle. We manage to have fun any way we do it.

 

[marchingstar]

We prefer to put universal at the end of our trip. But we like to actually *do* universal--so for example this trip we're doing 9 nights at a disney hotel, followed by 3 nights at a universal hotel. I'd make a few cases for a split stay like this:
1. You save the transportation costs, which can really add up if you take a cab/shuttle from a disney hotel. most hotels are walking distance from the parks, so you can easily head back to your room for a break if you want.
2. Early entry to Harry Potter areas (although you have to check which park is opening early during your trip--it does change)
3. If you stay at a universal deluxe hotel, you get unlimited express passes for everyone in your party **this is s big one for us. Especially after the intensive planning of a WDW trip, we love the freedom of the pass. It's like having a FP+ you can use for most rides, but with even shorter lines most of the time. You don't have to pay attention to crowd reports, you don't have to watch ride lines (for the most part), and you can ride favourites over and over.

It does mean leaving the disney bubble, but we don't find it sad. It's just a very different part of our vacation! We love how compact the universal resort is, compared to disney, and if we factor in the cost of purchasing the express pass, it works out cheaper to stay onsite at universal.

 

[Bronxgirl]

I have no interest in Universal, but my husband wants to go there, so for this trip he'll be going for one day in the middle of our trip. Originally DD and I were just going to hang out at the resort that day, but now I think we'll go to Epcot.

 

[sailored]

We are visiting Universal on our last full day of our trip (a monday in september) to visit both parks there and will purchase express passes if needed. We will be purchasing our tickets from dreamsunlimited. This package to be exact. It includes a shuttle & ticket.

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/universal/terms-1day2park-roundtrip.htm

 

[mullysisters]

We started adding a Universal Day to our Disney trip two years ago. I only went to IoA the first year for one day. Last year we went to both parks in one day and had lots of time to do all that we wanted including a 80 minute wait for Despicable Me. We get the shuttle from Disney at 8am for $20 return and come home when the Universal parks close. I don't go on every ride and find one day is enough for me. Spiderman is my favourite ride, WWoHP was fantastic, absolutely, and I will want to see Diagonal Alley this year and ride on the Hogwarts Express.
I travel Wed to Wed for less expensive airfare and fit in my Universal Day on a Monday or Tuesday to take advantage of lower crowds.

 

[tasha99]

How do you include Universal into your vacation? I heard doing it at the end can kind of end your vacation on a less high note and doing it at the beginning isn't as fun because you're so excited to go to Disney. I've done both Universal and Disney, so I know what to expect from both, but the last time I went to both on the same trip I was younger and didn't have a choice. Now that my own trip is being planned under way with my boyfriend we want to know how you incorporate Universal into your trips. Do you like it at the beginning, middle, or end of your vacation? And why? Is transportation an issue? Thank you!

We are going to Universal for the first time this year and have 3 nights at Hard Rock Hotel before going onto the Disney portion of our vacation. That's just what worked out with crowd calendars--I'd rather hit the more crowded time while staying onsite at Universal since we get FOTL with our rooms.

The advice I've heard from these boards is stay on site for the FOTL passes, and go to Universal second. Apparently, hotels are more "deluxe" on the dark side, and front of the line is a much better perk than 3 Fastpasses. Makes sense to me, but for this trip, we're doing it second.

 

[PixieT78]

DH and I are huge HP fans so Universal is a big reason we are going to Orlando. We were torn about whether to stay onsite at Universal because we go weekend to weekend so to do it at either the beginning of our trip or the end would involve being at the Universal parks on their busiest days. We decided lower crowds were more important so are going in the middle of our trip. We also are renting a car, and likely would have regardless so transportation is covered. We'll only buy express passes if we feel like we need to once we are there.

 

[Postal68]

We are visiting Universal on our last full day of our trip (a monday in september) to visit both parks there and will purchase express passes if needed. We will be purchasing our tickets from dreamsunlimited. This package to be exact. It includes a shuttle & ticket.

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/universal/terms-1day2park-roundtrip.htm

Depending on the amount of people in your party, it may be cheaper just to book a room at one of the 3 higher level hotels at Universal for your last night. Even if you don't use it, it may be cheaper than purchasing the Express passes individually. Plus it gives you early admission.

 

[sailored]

Depending on the amount of people in your party, it may be cheaper just to book a room at one of the 3 higher level hotels at Universal for your last night. Even if you don't use it, it may be cheaper than purchasing the Express passes individually. Plus it gives you early admission.

It's just my husband and I, would it be cheaper to go that route?

 

[soniam]

We just did such a trip the week before last. It went pretty well for the most part, but I think I have come up with the ultimate plan, at least for the time we have during Spring Break.

Friday: Fly in in the evening. Rent a car. Stay at a Uni deluxe hotel.
Saturday: AM - Do the park w/o early entry. PM - take Hogwarts Express to other park. Pretty much stay until close.
Sunday: AM - Do the park w/o early entry. PM - Hotel to swim or nap and eat dinner at hotel or Citywalk. Maybe head back to the park that is open later after dinner for some HP shopping.
Monday: AM - Checkout of hotel. Do the park with early entry, then take train to the other park. This is to repeat some rides. PM - Checkin to Disney hotel, swim, and eat dinner at hotel or nearby.
Tuesday: All day at MK or Epcot, whichever has EMH, preferably AM EMH.
Wednesday: AM - AK or DHS, whichever has AM EMH. PM - Swim, maybe nice dinner/date night.
Thursday: All day at MK or Epcot, whichever you didn't do before.
Friday: AM - AK or DHS, whichever you didn't do before. PM - Swim, dinner, maybe head to a park with a late show.
Saturday: Checkout and fly home.

With this plan, you could theoretically return your rental car once you switch to WDW and take ME back to the airport when you leave. Most of the time, the AM portion will actually end around early afternoon. Except at Uni, where it can end around lunch. I got the Uni idea from the Touring Plans 2 day/2 park/hopper tickets with early entry & Express Pass Plan.

 

[soniam]

It's just my husband and I, would it be cheaper to go that route?

You will have to price it out. If you can get a discount from Cheap Tickets, your room will probably be cheaper than an equivalent room at WDW. Our water view/2 bed room at Royal Pacific, with a Cheap Tickets discount, was cheaper than our POR garden view/2 bed room with Disney's spring offer (~20% off rack rate) per night. Plus, we got EE and Express Pass with the Universal room.

 

[pjhootch]

We usually do Disney first and Universal 2nd. Have never had a problem feeling let down by going to Universal after Disney. In fact, we increasingly prefer certain aspects of Universal to Disney. There isn't the need to plan as extensively- which we appreciate. We usually move to a Universal hotel for the express pass and it makes life simpler.

 

[Postal68]

It's just my husband and I, would it be cheaper to go that route?

Probably not for 2. We do it with our family of four and it is well worth it You have to check the Universal website to see how much the Express Passes are per person for the day of your visit as the price changes depending on time of visit.

 

[Jennifer Alexander]

This package to be exact. It includes a shuttle & ticket.

 

[macraven]

i do disney first then transfer to universal
stay at both resorts.


it always feels like i am taking two separate vacations by doing a split trip.

 

[marchingstar]

Probably not for 2. We do it with our family of four and it is well worth it You have to check the Universal website to see how much the Express Passes are per person for the day of your visit as the price changes depending on time of visit.

it really might still be worth it, if you're planning on universal for 2 days. with 1 night at a universal deluxe resort you get the express pass for the day you check in and day you check out. I still think the best value is just staying onsite--then you don't have to commute back to disney each day, and you're only paying for one hotel--but you'd probably still be ahead with the express pass 2 days.

 

[bumbershoot]

The ONLY reason doing Universal towards the end of our first Orlando trip was a little bit of a bummer is because we had gone from an Old Key West 2 bedroom down to a standard room at Royal Pacific Resort. That's a wonderful resort, but their rooms are the smallest of the deluxe Universal on-sites.

But that's it.

We actually had AK Villas at the end, and we didn't want to leave Universal the day we checked in to AKV. Left at the last minute.

The advice I've heard from these boards is stay on site for the FOTL passes, and go to Universal second. Apparently, hotels are more "deluxe" on the dark side, and front of the line is a much better perk than 3 Fastpasses.

Absolutely.

It's just my husband and I, would it be cheaper to go that route?

Price it out.

I book through this site: http://uo.loewshotels.com/en/booking/uo?hotel=UEPBH,UEHRH,UERPR

I book when I see a price I like, then I keep checking back to see if it got lower. On our second trip I looked and found an Annual Pass rate (put APH into the code field), and the total costs made sense for one of us to get an AP, so I did. Saved money by upgrading me to an AP and having a great room rate. (the longer your stay, the less likely this is to work, as they get some terrific Stay More Save More rates) Bought DH and DS tickets from undergroundtourist.com. Ended up upgrading their tickets to APs at the end of the stay, and since 2011 we have kept our APs.


We went to Universal for HP. But we are totally willing to take a chance, and we didn't want to on-purpose ruin our trip by shorting it, so along with 10 park days being our first WDW trip, we had 4 days at Universal (2 partial and 2 full days). And we left wanting MORE Universal. Our whole family doesn't ride the "big" rides but we love the plae anyway. Island of Adventure's Port of Entry is a site worth spending time to SEE. And to hear. Spend some time before you enter the gates hearing the music there. So cool. It's a great place.

For me, Unlimited Express Pass (it's not FOTL...there will almost always likely be something of a line in front of you) is the only way to go. I'd love to stay at Cabana Bay for the experience, but DH and DS refused, LOL. They won't be without their UEP!

If you get a 2 day ticket and stay one night at a deluxe resort, you get TWO DAYS of privileges; get there early enough and check in before Early Entry, and go partake in that. Make sure you get your Express Pass made at the resort, so you can take part in that all day long. (doesn't work for Ollivander's, Forbidden Journey, Gringott's, or the twirly ride in Simpsons area, but Early Entry takes care of the not-included HP rides) Sleep there (or at your WDW resort if you must), then go back and repeat the whole thing the next day. You can even keep your car parked until 11:59pm, and only pay one night of parking fee at the hotel lot. (don't change to the park lot, then you just pay for parking twice and walk further)

 

[agavegirl1]

Check out the Universal Board for more information but I have always stayed onsite at US and gotten the Express Pass as a result.

 

[Postal68]

If you get a 2 day ticket and stay one night at a deluxe resort, you get TWO DAYS of privileges; get there early enough and check in before Early Entry, and go partake in that. Make sure you get your Express Pass made at the resort, so you can take part in that all day long. (doesn't work for Ollivander's, Forbidden Journey, Gringott's, or the twirly ride in Simpsons area, but Early Entry takes care of the not-included HP rides) Sleep there (or at your WDW resort if you must), then go back and repeat the whole thing the next day. You can even keep your car parked until 11:59pm, and only pay one night of parking fee at the hotel lot. (don't change to the park lot, then you just pay for parking twice and walk further)

Good Point!!! I forgot about thhe fact that with one night's stay you get TWO days of Express and early entry privileges.