5 Nights At Cabana or 3 Nights Royal Pacific - July - 2 Adults

You all have been wonderful in your help!

Peabody58 - I am jealous! September/October is my favorite time to travel, but my daughter starts back to school in August and my parents are very much willing to keep her during the summer (at their house, in the country, with a pool, with cousins, etc), But were a little more hesitant to spend a week at my house during the school year and juggle homework, after school activities, etc. So since they are willing for summer, we are dealing with what we have to work with :)

I'm afraid this make get tomatoes thrown at me :) But for the sake of discussion - being's we are not Harry Potter people by nature... how important is staying at a US hotel? We will have a car and I'm noticing offsite hotels with lesser rates and I don't think we would necessarily mind driving - but we never use a car at Disney so I'm hesitant. Also, over dinner last night, DH thought 5 days at US might be too much? I didn't know. I was thinking taking it slow, go in the mornings and evenings, etc. I can't imagine saying you are bored with any orlando theme park, but for the veterans, is 5 days a bit much?

Many here do both U & WDW in every trip. It can get expensive unless u have APs & pro-rate that cost over several trips IMO.

Honestly, 5 days @ U would be too much for me with WDW APs & prepaid (DVC) burning a hole in my pocket lol.

We rarely visit if offsite guests, just not the same experience. We do enjoy SF when it's slower, even without the FOTL perk. It all depends on where your expectations lay as to # of rides completed.

Re the car, make sure to price it out for your dates if that's a consideration as to your budget. Good rental car rates have been difficult to find last 6 months or so. I had to really work at it. Try pricing thru carrentalsavers or auto-slash to get an idea of what's out there.

I find no advantage to staying onsite at Disney. Their transportation is terrible and unless you are staying at a few select parks, you still need to take the bus. As long as you can get your fastpasses that you want with only the 30 day window, you're good.

With Universal, I find staying onsite to be huge. You actually are ON SITE and can walk. In the summer, proximity to the parks is huge. We never do full days, we just wander around and do as we please, when we please and it makes summer touring very enjoyable.

Staying offsite really takes away from enjoyment at Universal, I find. I would follow Mac's advice and stay at least one night at Royal Pacific.

We rent a car. When we do use internal transportation rarely have waited more than 20 minutes for bus. Typically use uber if alcohol is involved or book where we can walk back to resort from park.

30 day window is nearly impossible for many of the Eticket rides, especially busy season. You may find very late slots open but otherwise, pickings are slim
 
I have to agree that staying on sight is the way to go if the budget allows! I even enjoy getting up early and walking around city walk and checking out the other hotels and shops. We use to stay off sight, but we have gotten spoiled with the convenience of being able to walk right out of your hotel to the parks. Also, on the way back, we would sometimes stop at Margarettaville, to have an adult beverage, just sit there people watch and have a cold drink-to me that is wonderful! Now I want to go! 9 weeks from Monday we'll be there, but whose counting!
 
I also meant to say, we went in July last year-stayed at Sapphire Falls, where you get early admission, but not EP. If you take advantage of the early admission, you'll be fine. Now if you want to be able to get on rides in the middle of the day, that's a different story-Just plot out what rides you really want to go on, and head right there when the park opens. We had stayed at RP prior to Sapphire, so we were concerned about giving up the EP, but getting there early is the key!
 
For a romantic adults getaway, Royal Pacific would be my vote. It is a lovely resort (looks more like Disney's Polynesian) with gorgeous tropically landscaped grounds, and you can either walk to the parks and City Walk (10 minutes and is a beautiful walk) or take the boat back and forth. So pleasant! Nice relaxed atmosphere, nothing hectic! If you stay at Cabana you can walk over to Sapphire and take the boat, but it is a walk and isn't the same as being right there.
 



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