Stay at Disney or combine a day or two at Universal?

[have2getaway]

So, my boys will be nearly 10 when we go, but they are very small for their age. 52 inches and maybe 50 lbs. I suppose they could grow in a year. Anyway, I’m sure it varies, but what is the best age for UO? Should we still wait a bit longer?

 

[Mysteryincorp]

So, my boys will be nearly 10 when we go, but they are very small for their age. 52 inches and maybe 50 lbs. I suppose they could grow in a year. Anyway, I’m sure it varies, but what is the best age for UO? Should we still wait a bit longer?

My daughter is just a little bit over 50inches and maybe 50lbs. She was able to do tons......she could have done RIp Ride rocket but wasn’t feeling well. She was too short for Hulk and Doom.
I was very pleasantly surprised by Universal, so much that I’m trying to justify another trip. It wasn’t just the Harry Potter areas, though that area was enough to hold my attention for a week. I’m sure some of it was that it was all new but I loved the layout of the parks, the rides were fun and Express Pass was the best. Royal pacific resort was beautiful and I hate Disney buses so being able to walk to the parks Was amazing.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

She was 7 at the time of our trip. For a day trip it was something ridiculous like$1000 and we were on the dining plan at WDW so that also would have been an issue. That’s why we tacked it on the to days at the front of our trip, it was still expensive but we stayed in a suite and spent $100 just on wands!!! I’m sure we could have done it a bit cheaper

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yeah, when you do a split stay with UOR and WDW, you have to let the cost of buying both sets tickets go. It's soooo painful, the way both places front-load the costs. It will drive you crazy if you think about it too much

We did the Universal trip where we spent one day at WDW, and that was so painful buying those one-day tickets! But it was worth it

 

[DisneyOma]

THIS is what I wanted to do. If my daughter ONLY wanted to see the HP stuff (which would be our main reason for going), could we do it in half a day?

3/4 to a full day for us, but we don't stay onsite or buy the special line-cutting pass. We don't do coasters, so we skip dueling dragons. We do go in all the shops, sometimes skip Ollivander's show and just go into the other part of the shop. we do eat at least one mea there, and either get a frozen butterbeer or an ice cream.

From the standpoint of whether you could get on all the HP rides and at least glance at most of the shops in those areas? Yeah, probably. You'd need their equivalent of a park hopper since HP is split across both parks and you can't ride the Hogwarts Express unless your ticket is good for both.

From the standpoint of whether I think a half day in US is realistic? Probably not. Both HP areas are in the far back corners of their respective parks, so you'll be walking past aaaallll the other attractions to get in and out. While I'm less into US than Disney, I can't imagine completely ignoring every attraction outside of the Wizarding World under those circumstances. Something is going to catch her (or your) eye. If you're reasonably sure HP is all you want to do, I'd still schedule a full day so you're not going at a frantic pace and can stop and enjoy other things that might come up. If you wanted to do everything (or at least closer to "everything") I'd either go two days or go one day with ExpressPass (as I mentioned above, the cost of a two day ticket was the same as a cost of a one day ticket with ExpressPass back in 2015, so cost-wise it's six of one, half a dozen of the other).

It's so easy for us to walk past the rest of Universal - too many virtual rides, and we don't do coasters. Not the best theming either - lots of towering warehouse buildings, etc.

 

[Eastern]

I’m curious about the club level? We looked into at Disney, but there it seemed as though sticking with a dining plan works out better, but I haven’t heard great things about the UO dining plan. Have you ever done club level at Disney? I’m just curious how the two compare? I did not hear great reviews about club level at the Polynesian, at least not for the price.

If I can convince DH to give up Magical Express, I could see us staying here for a night or two. It would be nice to try to do 9 days total, so we would have 7 at Disney, but then that’s even more of an expense. I’m starting to see why so many people alternate the trips.

It's definitely an added expense and I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want to do HP area.

Comparing US to Disney CL, I thought the room at Portofino Bay was higher end, cleaner, plusher than a typical Disney room. Food and drinks were more plentiful at US than Disney. US was probably also cheaper than similar CL accommodations at Disney. I wouldn't do a dining plan plus CL as it is not a good use of dollars. Forget where we ate lunch at US but it was forgettable. For dinner, we just hung out in the lounge. There had a nice salad each night, and two hot trays, one vegetarian, plus other snack type things. It was really very good; this was about 2 years ago so look for more recent comments. I think they had water bottles as well.

As for the US parks, I thought that, while HP area was really good, the rest of the parks were a bit on the shabby side. Also you need a 2 park ticket to go to both parts of HP land. It's definitely a big extra expense but we were talking about going for so long we just finally did it.

For extensive Disney CL reviews see the CL forum on the resorts board.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

3/4 to a full day for us, but we don't stay onsite or buy the special line-cutting pass. We don't do coasters, so we skip dueling dragons. We do go in all the shops, sometimes skip Ollivander's show and just go into the other part of the shop. we do eat at least one mea there, and either get a frozen butterbeer or an ice cream.



It's so easy for us to walk past the rest of Universal - too many virtual rides, and we don't do coasters. Not the best theming either - lots of towering warehouse buildings, etc.

That front section of US, yes, under-themed. The Springfield area and all of IOA are much better themed. But if you head straight to Diagon Alley and Hogwart Express over to Hogsmeade you don’t see that.

I’m planning a Disney trip now but often wistful wish we were going back to Uni instead. I like both, but Uni is stealing my heart. We have always done them on separate trips. We’re not people who have ever felt we were “done” with a park so I think we get our moneys worth and more satisfaction by staying longer at each. The longest we can really get off is 8 days so both would feel rushed to us.

I would suggest doing Uni last if you do a split stay. I agree with pp. i would have a hard time going back to FP right after having EP.

 

[SaintsManiac]

That front section of US, yes, under-themed. The Springfield area and all of IOA are much better themed. But if you head straight to Diagon Alley and Hogwart Express over to Hogsmeade you don’t see that.

I’m planning a Disney trip now but often wistful wish we were going back to Uni instead. I like both, but Uni is stealing my heart. We have always done them on separate trips. We’re not people who have ever felt we were “done” with a park so I think we get our moneys worth and more satisfaction by staying longer at each. The longest we can really get off is 8 days so both would feel rushed to us.

I would suggest doing Uni last if you do a split stay. I agree with pp. i would have a hard time going back to FP right after having EP.

I agree with you. I find myself missing Universal a lot more than I thought I would. We are taking a couple of years off of Disney after our APs expire later this year and will be going to Universal instead.

 

[YawningDodo]

That front section of US, yes, under-themed. The Springfield area and all of IOA are much better themed. But if you head straight to Diagon Alley and Hogwart Express over to Hogsmeade you don’t see that.

What's funny is that I find Springfield the most skippable area -- the theming's strong, but the Simpsons lost its appeal for me a long time ago, and I can't ride the Simpsons ride without 1.) getting nauseous and 2.) thinking how much I wish it were still the BTTF ride.

My point (and I do have a point beyond dissing part of the park) is that this and the reply to my earlier comments about it being hard to walk past everything, skipping attractions, makes it super clear that everyone has different taste and priorities, and that's not a bad thing. I just still think that if there's enough at Universal to attract you to the park at all, there's enough for at least one full day.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

What's funny is that I find Springfield the most skippable area -- the theming's strong, but the Simpsons lost its appeal for me a long time ago, and I can't ride the Simpsons ride without 1.) getting nauseous and 2.) thinking how much I wish it were still the BTTF ride.

My point (and I do have a point beyond dissing part of the park) is that this and the reply to my earlier comments about it being hard to walk past everything, skipping attractions, makes it super clear that everyone has different taste and priorities, and that's not a bad thing. I just still think that if there's enough at Universal to attract you to the park at all, there's enough for at least one full day.

Agreed that just because an area is well themed doesn’t mean you’re going to like that theme. I was just floored by Springfield. I haven’t seen the Simpsons in probably 10 years but I thought it was great. It was so much fun to see things like the Duff brewery and Lard Boy. And I had no idea about it other than knowing there was a Simpsons ride.

My first thought was to agree completely that it would be hard to get back to the HP areas without something catching your eye. But then I thought about the fact that you could walk thru that area of US, go straight into HP, stay in HP, and come back out the same way without perhaps seeing something non-HP you might want to do. That said, if I had tried that plan it would have gotten derailed immediately by Minion Mayhem. Oh, look! It’s Gru’s House!

I agree that I would not try to do any theme park in half a day. I would not want to spend anything less than a full day in HP. But some people are only interested in rides. In that case I guess I can see being ‘done’ in half a day. But I would still want to see what else was at a park. HP drew us to US, no doubt. Without it it would have been many more years before we would have gone with the kids but there’s a lot more to love there than HP in my opinion.

 

[MamaMaleficent2016]

I haven’t read through this whole thread yet, but wanted to comment on our experience on our last trip. We had never done Universal for similar reasons. Kids are finally old enough and interested . We added a full day at Universal to our Disney trip last Jan/Feb. Here’s what I learned.

1. The kids loved it. Want to go again.
2. The vibe is very different than Disney. There is no magic. It is a thrill park not a theme park. It’s like a big Cedar Point.
3. It was a tough transition to make in the middle of a Disney trip. I couldn’t wait to get back to the Disney bubble.
4.i love how they handled seating in their restaurants. The employees manage it and you must have food to sit. Much better than counter service at Disney.
5. I wish we’d sprung for Express pass.
6. Harry Potter stuff is worth every penny.

We are going to go again on our next trip. But we will do it at the very beginning. We’ll stay in hotel at Universal for two nights and then transition to Disney. That way I can stay nice and safe in my magical Disney bubble but the kids will still get their Universal time.

 

[KristenB17]

I think it works out to be much more expensive to try and do a split trip.

 

[have2getaway]

I haven’t read through this whole thread yet, but wanted to comment on our experience on our last trip. We had never done Universal for similar reasons. Kids are finally old enough and interested . We added a full day at Universal to our Disney trip last Jan/Feb. Here’s what I learned.

1. The kids loved it. Want to go again.
2. The vibe is very different than Disney. There is no magic. It is a thrill park not a theme park. It’s like a big Cedar Point.
3. It was a tough transition to make in the middle of a Disney trip. I couldn’t wait to get back to the Disney bubble.
4.i love how they handled seating in their restaurants. The employees manage it and you must have food to sit. Much better than counter service at Disney.
5. I wish we’d sprung for Express pass.
6. Harry Potter stuff is worth every penny.

We are going to go again on our next trip. But we will do it at the very beginning. We’ll stay in hotel at Universal for two nights and then transition to Disney. That way I can stay nice and safe in my magical Disney bubble but the kids will still get their Universal time.

Would it be worth it for us to pay for the least expensive room that comes with the Express Pass and still stay at Disney and go to Universal at the beginning of our trip? That way, we wouldn’t have to give up Magical Express transportation to Disney, but would still get the benefits to skip the lines? Does anyone do this?

 

[katyjeka]

Disney is our favorite but our kids LOVED Dr. Suess and Harry Potter. Our youngest loves the Grinch, we had to wait in line 3 times to see him( I will admit he was awesome)! We where there at Xmas and loved the "whos" walking around. With that being said we had a buy 2 days get 3rd free and never used the 3rd day. We went back to the world.

 

[mamamelody2]

I know my boys at almost 10 were not very daring, so I don't think Universal would have worked for them at that age.
Plus, I have looked into it on our trips (usually 8 or 9 day trips) and the cost is just too much. A 2 day park-to-park ticket is more than 1/2 as much as an 8 day hopper. I just can't justify it for us.

 

[snoopboop]

2. The vibe is very different than Disney. There is no magic. It is a thrill park not a theme park. It’s like a big Cedar Point.

I'm always baffled when I read comments like this. It's not anything like a "big Cedar Point." Universal absolutely has great theming, ESPECIALLY at IOA. To claim otherwise is false and only reveals bias going in.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I haven’t read through this whole thread yet, but wanted to comment on our experience on our last trip. We had never done Universal for similar reasons. Kids are finally old enough and interested . We added a full day at Universal to our Disney trip last Jan/Feb. Here’s what I learned.

1. The kids loved it. Want to go again.
2. The vibe is very different than Disney. There is no magic. It is a thrill park not a theme park. It’s like a big Cedar Point.
3. It was a tough transition to make in the middle of a Disney trip. I couldn’t wait to get back to the Disney bubble.
4.i love how they handled seating in their restaurants. The employees manage it and you must have food to sit. Much better than counter service at Disney.
5. I wish we’d sprung for Express pass.
6. Harry Potter stuff is worth every penny.

We are going to go again on our next trip. But we will do it at the very beginning. We’ll stay in hotel at Universal for two nights and then transition to Disney. That way I can stay nice and safe in my magical Disney bubble but the kids will still get their Universal time.

The theming in Wizarding World is unlike anything Disney has been able to do. They came close with Pandora.

 

[crazylady]

So, my boys will be nearly 10 when we go, but they are very small for their age. 52 inches and maybe 50 lbs. I suppose they could grow in a year. Anyway, I’m sure it varies, but what is the best age for UO? Should we still wait a bit longer?

I think 10 would be great but I would check the ride heights. Your kids seem a little on the small side but at 8 my son wasn't tall enough to ride Hulk, Dueling Dragons and Doom.

We stayed club level at Royal Pacific and it worked great for us. We ate breakfast there and did a sit down lunch somewhere and most nights snacked on the club appetizers for dinner. I feel like it saved us money and I loved not having to deal with kids in restaurants for some of our meals. We were also there a couple of years ago so hopefully someone has a newer review for you.

People do book a room for the express and stay at their Disney hotel. You get the express pass for your check in and check out days so you could book just one night and have two days of express pass available to you. I would not do that just to use the magical express but that's just my opinion.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

.
2. The vibe is very different than Disney. There is no magic. It is a thrill park not a theme park. It’s like a big Cedar Point.

Did you skip the Harry Potter areas?

I can’t think of anything more magical than kids running around in wizard robes performing spells and drinking butter beer as if they had stepped into a movie. But I’m a Potter fan.

If Uni was trying to be a thrill park they are an utter fail at it. I can go to Six Flags and ride 10 or more large coasters in one park. I would classify Uni as a theme park that is trying to keep the teenage boy demographic. I think they are very successful with that type of theming. YMMV.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We did the last 2 days of our latest trip in early December at US. My older kids absolutely loved it, my younger ones kept asking "can we go back to Magic Kingdom?", so age does play a big part. Also, remember, to get the most out of the HP experience you have to get the park to park ticket (so you can ride the AMAZING Hogwarts Express train), which is significantly extra money, and for us, being able to ride that train was the only reason we got the park to park extra because theres really no way you can do both parks in one day. Also, I agree on there being WAY too many motion simulator rides in US, you have to take a dramamine to get through the day.
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