Disneyworld/Universal Studios

Hi All,

Planning a trip to Orlando for late Winter/Early Spring.
Was thinking of splitting time, maybe 2 days at Universal Studios and the rest at Disneyworld.

I have read that some people don’t bother with rental cars and just stay at hotels in the parks.
They do seem more expensive.
Not sure the best way to plan logistically.

Any advice?

We prefer the hotels outside of the parks. Car service / shuttles / Magic Express is readily available at most hotels to and from the parks, so if you don’t mind paying for each trip, it’s a good convenience factor of not having to drive, park and walk. Sometimes finding parking can be a bear, depending on day/event, etc.

Factor in the cost of the ride to and from the airport, and how many trips between parks you plan on taking, as well as going to dinner outside of each park you are staying in (good restaurant options can be somewhat limited inside the parks) and then base that estimate on what a rental car would cost you from the airport.
It’s always nice to know you have the freedom to get in your car and go wherever you want, instead of paying for transportation each time. But if you plan to stay in the parks and not venture out, then you can utilize the transportation they offer within Disney.

Rent a house or condo. They are cheaper, much more space and amenities, sometimes a private pool. We rent our house out, but you could google a thousand similar properties.
http://sunshinepalmsterraverde.com/villa.htm.

A few thoughts:

  1. we’ve been to Disney twice with young kids and stayed in a disney condo (bayside tower) once and at the waldorf (inside the parks) the second time. If you are taking kids then staying nearby is worth it as they’ll be very tired after a day in the parks.

  2. staying at a disney property in the parks gives you access to various early morning character breakfasts. Again, a big deal if you have kids.

  3. close your eyes and pay up for the VIP guided entry to the parks. Very expensive but totally worth it as you can jump all the queues for the rides, get in the parks early etc etc. Your guide will make your time in the parks way more efficient. In effect you can do everything in about a third of the time that you could without a guide. ie what you spend on the guide you save on staying 2-3 days rather than a week! Again, if you have kids it makes the whole trip way more fun as they won’t enjoy standing in a 45 minute queue for any of the major rides.

It depends on what you want to do. Staying on Disney proper gives you easy access to everything in all the parks. You don’t have to worry about parking a car which can be a pain in the ass. We always stayed at one of the resort areas around Epcot where you could walk to 2 parks. This is a huge advantage IMO as many times we would walk to Epcot for dinner and watch the fireworks and walk home. Very nice. There are also lots to do at the individual resorts and it is very Disney immersive. If you have young kids I would definitely not stay off property as they may need to take a break during the day.

Certainly the Disney resorts are more expensive than outside the park and a condo would give you much more space but not worth it IMO.

Another alternative is to stay at the Waldorf or now I believe the 4 seasons is open. These rooms are much nicer and less expensive than the Disney rooms and they are still on property. You do not have access to Disney transportation nor can you walk anywhere but with the money you save over a deluxe Disney resort you can take a town car to the parks in the morning that drop you off right up front, which is a nice luxury. There are always cabs waiting to take you home.

George

Critical in my view but very expensive depending on the size of your group (we did it with one other family) - we did more rides with the VIP guide in one stretch then we did during the entire three other days in the park… I think we hit 8-10 rides and it was President’s day weekend… Did it the first day and I was pissed off for the rest of the trip that we didn’t do it for a second day - particularly as we stood in line for 45 minutes +/- for the 3-5 minute rides the following days. We were lucky it wasn’t hot (even cool at times) and cannot imagine waiting in lines like that most of the year when it is swelteringly hot.

I don’t know how people do it…

We’ve stayed on property and off. I agree with the comments that it provides a “disney immersive” vacation, but from a convenience standpoint, I just don’t buy it. We’ve timed our trips numerous times and it really doesn’t amount to more than 7 to 10 minutes difference between onsite and offsite.

In my experience, the pool is the biggest attraction for the kids. If you don’t mind chaperoning them at the hotel pool, then go with the hotel. But I loved having a private pool where I could chill after a hot day. I can surf the web, watch TV, read a book, get some sun, get some shade, drink grocery story priced beer, grill some burgers, and generally be “king of the castle”

I’ve never stayed onsite at Universal, but I recall they offer early hours for hotel guests. I can’t recall the details, but this might be a factor for Harry Potter fans. That area gets mobbed early so an extra hour is a big deal.

I’ll try to think of some other tips.

It takes planning during busy times, but it can be done without a lot of queuing time. The new reservation system was just being brought on during our last trip. I liked fastpass better but it was new and they were working out kinks.

So it’ll be four of us.
Kids are 9.

Was looking at the deluxe hotels at Universal - the advantage is that they give you the Express Pass and they are walking or boating distance to the parks.
Hmmm.

George,
I looked at Waldorf, didn’t realize it was on campus.
Might have to consider it for Disnyeworld.

Also looked at the cheaper on site hotels, as well as Cabana at Universal (but no Express Pass).

I guess one of my main concerns is not having a car, which I am not used to.

The switch from one hotel midweek to the other also concerns me logistically.
Do I check out early and leave luggage at hotel?
Return there end of day and taxi over to the other?
Etc
But I also hate the prospect of having to deal with parking if I rented a car…

Waldorf does have a bus that picks you up and takes you to the parks. The only think I did not like about the Waldorf was its very limited dining options. The only marketplace is in the Hilton, which is a 10 -15 minute walk (hotels are attached).

And what we do when switching hotels, is go to the next hotel, try for an early check in, and if not, just leave your bags there. That way you don’t have to hassle with it later in the day.

If you are only thinking of spending 2 days at Universal. I wouldn’t bother to switch hotels. You can rent a car for just those days. There is also PLENTY to do at Disney for just about any amount of time you wish to stay there. You need to plan A LOT in advance as the popular things book up. Some of the extra things we have done.
Wild Africa Trek in the Animal Kingdom (this was awesome)
Sunrise Safari
Fireworks cruise
Pirates cruise
Lunch with and Imaginer
Magic Kingdom Pirate night -
There is also good dining and some decent wine to be found. It of course is Disney so it is all very expensive. Stay at the Boardwalk or Beach Club where you can walk to 2 parks and MANY restaurants. It makes it SO much easier with kids. The Swan and Dolphin are good to if you are an SPG member but more Business like.

George

I disagree on Universal. If going for two days, stay at a park hotel. You get into Harry Potter early (I think) and unlimited use of the fast pass line. If you only buy the fast pass ticket, I believe you are limited to the number of times per attraction you can utilize the benefit.

At the risk of taking a slight (selfish) detour in Dan’s thread, I have a question regarding Universal Studios. I am taking my boys (ages 13 and 11) to Universal for one day in February (we’d stay longer but are staying the week in Sarasota and just want to take a day trip).

I see that Diagon Alley (at Universal Studios) and Hogmeade (at Universal Islands of Adventure) are different parks and would require a “Park-to-Park” ticket if we wanted to hit both.

Should we? Or is one in particular so good that we should spend the whole day there? I’m tempted to do both parks, but unsure if it’s easy to hit all of the attractions within one 12 hour day.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I think this is the site we’ve used in the past:

http://touringplans.com/islands-of-adventure/crowd-levels#

What’s the cost we’re looking at for VIP?
is it like $100/day per person (so 4 people would be $400/day)… or more like $300/person/day…

just curious how brutal this really is…


We stayed at the Swan - great use of SPG pts for a free 5 night stay. It is an ok hotel - decent in all respects and reasonably convenient. Pretty good pool areas as well. At regular room rates, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were better choices.

Can’t remember what the cost was but it’s per guide for a minimum of 5 hours per day if I remember correctly. If you can get a bigger group then obviously you amortise the cost more. I vaguely recall it was a few thousand dollars for the 2 days we had one ie ca. $3-400 per hour. It is worth every penny and makes the whole trip much, much, much more enjoyable. I cannot imagine doing disney with young kids without a guide.

[shock.gif]

But I guess it’s all relative. If you’ve worked hard enough to get to the point where $2000 is not a lot of money, then more power to you.

The new ride reservation system eliminates long queuing for the most part. We spent minimal time on line even during the busy spring break.

But, like I said; if an extra $2000/day is your version of pushing the easy button, then go for it.

Keep in mind with the Disney VIP tours there are many non-Disney tours that you can purchase from various tour guides. The official Disney tours are the only ones that give you expedited entry to rides etc. The other ones may save you some time but they will not allow you to “cut” in line.

George

Just checked and it was $315 per hour for min 6 hours so basically $1900/day. I can’t speak to Chris’ point re the new ride system or for the time of year you’re going but no question in my mind it was worth it both times we went and we just accepted it as part of the overall holiday cost. No different to spending money on a nicer hotel or flying business class long haul.