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

[macraven]

Our family has been to WDW several times and we enjoy staying onsite; I am contemplating a visit to US this trip also. Our kids (3 teenage boys) are not interested in Happy Potter - would it be doable to take uber from WDW for one day and see / do the "non HP" parts of the park in one day? I was thinking we should probably purchase the FP add on if we choose to do this (although that is a hefty bill to swallow for a family of 5 for one day). Thanks for your opinion!

A lot depends on your dates if you need to buy the ep for a day trip to UO

Weekdays usually are less busy than weekends

 

[have2getaway]

It's still pretty walkable (I think around a third of a mile?), but much closer to Islands of Adventure than Universal. So, if you're going to take advantage of extra morning hours at IOA, Royal Pacific might actually be a good option. We always start and end at Diagon Alley, so Hard Rock makes more sense for us.

Would it be reasonable to walk to the Hard Rock pool if we wanted to? I don’t expect we will use the hotel pool much anyway since we only have a couple days at the park, but did notice it doesn’t have a slide and HRH does.

 

[macraven]

I looked for the post where you did book but did not see it

Are you booked at Rpr?

Hrh has one pool and the slide
PBH has 3 pools
Rpr has one pool and a shallow small pool
Never see much activity in that little wading type of pool

You can pool hop by showing your hotel card

I am not one to pool hop for a specific feature at one of the hotels
My pool hopping is to meet up with other friends and spend time in the loungers at the pools, visit and eat while there

You can walk from rpr to hrh or take the water taxis and switch at city walk to hrh boat

If you have no waits for the boats, it can be quicker than walking

Possible to use the water taxi from rpr and walk from there to hrh
I think think that would be quicker than catching hrh boats

 

[have2getaway]

I looked for the post where you did book but did not see it

Are you booked at Rpr?

Hrh has one pool and the slide
PBH has 3 pools
Rpr has one pool and a shallow small pool
Never see much activity in that little wading type of pool

You can pool hop by showing your hotel card

I am not one to pool hop for a specific feature at one of the hotels
My pool hopping is to meet up with other friends and spend time in the loungers at the pools, visit and eat while there

You can walk from rpr to hrh or take the water taxis and switch at city walk to hrh boat

If you have no waits for the boats, it can be quicker than walking

Possible to use the water taxi from rpr and walk from there to hrh
I think think that would be quicker than catching hrh boats

Thank you. Yes, we are booked for one night at RPR, staying on a Sunday to Monday, then going to the Polynesian for the remainder of our trip. I’m not too concerned with the pool slide as we are going in January, but thought if we wanted to do something after the parks, and if it’s warm enough, our boys are 8 and love pool slides. Sapphire Falls looks really nice, but we are staying for 1 night for the convenience, FP, and early entry. HR wasn’t much more. Do you think we would prefer that hotel? We picked Royal Pacific because it was closest in theme to the Polynesian, and because we thought the boys would enjoy it more.

 

[Summer2018]

We are planning a return Disney trip next January, 2019, and plan to stay again at the Polynesian. It will be me, DH, and our triplet boys who are 8. On our trip last year, we thought the boys were still a bit young for Universal and, since they had never been to Disney, we wanted to focus on that. We paid a lot of money for the deluxe dining, resort and park hopper tickets, and doing Universal for a day would have added $700-$800. This time, I started out excited to try both, but am finding I have reservations again, but for different reasons. Our Disney trip felt so easy and relaxed and we had pretty much paid for everything up front. We really want a repeat of that experience, and we’re looking forward to doing things we didn’t do on our last trip—like enjoy our resort more, visit the Boardwalk, etc. If we try to add a day or two at Universal, it will be hard to repeat that relaxed experience. We will be paying for a dining plan we won’t use for 1-2 days. Also, we are not the split stay type. We prefer to get where we are going and stay there, and, I don’t know, it’s starting to feel like we are just trying to cram too much into one trip. Does anyone else struggle with this? Just looking for thoughts and suggestions? For those who did both in a week, which is how long we will be there, did you find it was too much?

After a truly magical vacation in WDW, we left the Beach Club to spend a night in Orlando to go to Universal the following day mainly so my DD could explore the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The moment we left Disney property, it was as if the magical bubble burst. After an expensive (worth every penny) vacation in WDW, we couldn’t afford to stay at a Universal Resort, so we didn’t get the early entry that others got even though we were there early. All the people staying onsite had already been in Universal for an hour. Harry Potter was already packed. The wand store was wall to wall humanity. Forget a wand choosing DD, we couldn’t even get near a wand sitting on a shelf in the store. The ride was okay but we had never experienced such huge crowds in WDW. It was anything but enjoyable. The vibe at Universal was very different from WDW. The magic was gone, and we all wanted to go home. DD may return one day and stay at one of their onsite resorts. DH and I won’t.

 

[Luckybee]

Just curious, how many nights did you stay your first trip and which resort? Wondering if the resort choice matters at all? Also, was it a combined trip with Disney?

I know your question wasn't to us but I thought I'd throw our two cents in anyway for what it's worth. For us staying on property was a huge plus. When we didn't it really wasn't as good to be fair, which is something I don't really see with Disney. In other words our Disney trips are the same on or off property......but that said I am really enjoying the pre trip planning with signature services for april.
For this upcoming trip we're spending 4 nights at AKL, 6 nights at a Marriott timeshare, then 2 nights at Portofino, then on to palm Beach. Im really looking forward to going back to LPortofino. The experience for us was comparable to a luxury resort anywhere and worth every nickel. We may now be at least satisfied with Disney "luxury" or "club" but that will be more as a result of Signature Services than the resort itself but that remains to be seen on our next trip !

 

[have2getaway]

I know your question wasn't to us but I thought I'd throw our two cents in anyway for what it's worth. For us staying on property was a huge plus. When we didn't it really wasn't as good to be fair, which is something I don't really see with Disney. In other words our Disney trips are the same on or off property......but that said I am really enjoying the pre trip planning with signature services for april.
For this upcoming trip we're spending 4 nights at AKL, 6 nights at a Marriott timeshare, then 2 nights at Portofino, then on to palm Beach. Im really looking forward to going back to LPortofino. The experience for us was comparable to a luxury resort anywhere and worth every nickel. We may now be at least satisfied with Disney "luxury" or "club" but that will be more as a result of Signature Services than the resort itself but that remains to be seen on our next trip !

Thank you so much for the response. I’m grateful to anyone who can offer their opinion and experience. I’m second guessing staying at Royal Pacific after hearing how great Portafino is. Did you find the resort too spread out as others have mentioned, or inconvenient due to location? I see the Portafino as being a real treat on our trip, and might make the difference between us wanting to return, but then I think to myself, maybe one night isn’t enough to matter?

 

[Luckybee]

Thank you so much for the response. I’m grateful to anyone who can offer their opinion and experience. I’m second guessing staying at Royal Pacific after hearing how great Portafino is. Did you find the resort too spread out as others have mentioned, or inconvenient due to location? I see the Portafino as being a real treat on our trip, and might make the difference between us wanting to return, but then I think to myself, maybe one night isn’t enough to matter?

We really love Portofino ! It's just dh and I and we were in the wing overlooking the bay. From there we found everything at the resort was within a 5-10 minute walk and it was all so beautiful we never found it to be too spread out. That said we love resorts with "space" so I get that others may find it more spread out than a typical Disney resort.
Our first time was a one night stay which we loved !
Just to add....we didn't get to the other hotels so I cant really compare. That said Loew's Portofino is a member of Amex Fine hotels so that means breakfast included, $100 food and beverage credit and guaranteed 4pm check out. I don't see us going to the other resorts anytime soon

 

[have2getaway]

We really love Portofino ! It's just dh and I and we were in the wing overlooking the bay. From there we found everything at the resort was within a 5-10 minute walk and it was all so beautiful we never found it to be too spread out. That said we love resorts with "space" so I get that others may find it more spread out than a typical Disney resort.
Our first time was a one night stay which we loved !
Just to add....we didn't get to the other hotels so I cant really compare. That said Loew's Portofino is a member of Amex Fine hotels so that means breakfast included, $100 food and beverage credit and guaranteed 4pm check out. I don't see us going to the other resorts anytime soon

Thank you! I think I may switch to Portafino. Are there different locations you can request, and were there many kids there during your stay? I was worried it wouldn’t be kid friendly, but I saw the pools, and I can’t imagine it’s not!

 

[jpkkld]

Just curious, how many nights did you stay your first trip and which resort? Wondering if the resort choice matters at all? Also, was it a combined trip with Disney?

The first trip, and the next 3, were all at Royal Pacific, and we LOVE it there! Great theming, extremely compact, awesome pool (but no slide), real sand in part of the patio, 7-10 minutes walk to CityWalk, or the water taxi is RIGHT THERE. Those trips were Thanksgiving 2015, May 2016, Thanksgiving 2016, and October 2017.

The most recent trip, we wanted to splurge a bit, so we checked out Portofino. Also LOVED it there! Slightly more upscale feeling, absolutely charming theming, much larger, more sprawly, but also more ... authentic feeling? I don't know, I just loved that we walked up some stairs, down some stairs, through a gallery, and across a courtyard to get to our room. It really felt like we were in Italy. And the pool! It's an aqueduct ruin. Totally awesome, has a slide, but a bit small. And most was pretty shallow. It was perfect for November, but it would be pretty crowded in July.

From all I've read, any of the 3 deluxe Uni hotels is a fantastic experience. We had gravitated to Royal Pacific due to consistently lower cost, but it's still a "deluxe" experience, and even after Portofino, I would stay at RPR again in a heartbeat.

Each of our Uni trips has been 2.5 to 3 park days, with 2-4 hotel nights (depending on flights and family / travel). We have family in FL, so we've taken to splitting the Thanksgiving holiday between the relatives and the wizards. That way, we can count on getting a minimum of 2 trips out of our annual (or "seasonal") passes. Plus, the annual passes usually allow a room discount too. We've found them to be a great deal.

We don't combine Disney with Uni trips. Honestly, each place has it's own bubble. We don't like to pop the bubble, either one!

Edited to add:
If you're planning a Uni trip, there is a Universal subform on DISboards. Not super active, but there are some very helpful & friendly folks over there. The stickies are fantastic resources for hotel info, restaurant help, and literally, everything Harry Potter.

 

[macraven]

Thank you so much for the response. I’m grateful to anyone who can offer their opinion and experience. I’m second guessing staying at Royal Pacific after hearing how great Portafino is. Did you find the resort too spread out as others have mentioned, or inconvenient due to location? I see the Portafino as being a real treat on our trip, and might make the difference between us wanting to return, but then I think to myself, maybe one night isn’t enough to matter?

Read some of the trip reports in the trip report forum

Zero in on the reports for PBH
Some of the reports two years ago are quite similar to present ones

You can find more in depth experiences others share on what made their stay there excellent

You’ll read first hand experiences and what worked for them
Many share their pictures

Not many peeps write trip reports
But the ones that do were so excited to share in order to let readers be aware of how great the hotel was during their stay

All the hotels have threads about them

Sometimes you can learn a lot by the reports that will guide you in making a decision on which hotel resort will beat suit your needs

There some things at the 3 resorts that draws me in

I wish there was one hotel onsite that met all my wishes ....

There are something’s I love about each of the deluxe hotels, you can’t go wrong with any of them

Take the pluses of what others have posted here and read trip reports of those in that forum
Compare them and go with your gut feeling for your stay

 

[have2getaway]

The first trip, and the next 3, were all at Royal Pacific, and we LOVE it there! Great theming, extremely compact, awesome pool (but no slide), real sand in part of the patio, 7-10 minutes walk to CityWalk, or the water taxi is RIGHT THERE. Those trips were Thanksgiving 2015, May 2016, Thanksgiving 2016, and October 2017.

The most recent trip, we wanted to splurge a bit, so we checked out Portofino. Also LOVED it there! Slightly more upscale feeling, absolutely charming theming, much larger, more sprawly, but also more ... authentic feeling? I don't know, I just loved that we walked up some stairs, down some stairs, through a gallery, and across a courtyard to get to our room. It really felt like we were in Italy. And the pool! It's an aqueduct ruin. Totally awesome, has a slide, but a bit small. And most was pretty shallow. It was perfect for November, but it would be pretty crowded in July.

From all I've read, any of the 3 deluxe Uni hotels is a fantastic experience. We had gravitated to Royal Pacific due to consistently lower cost, but it's still a "deluxe" experience, and even after Portofino, I would stay at RPR again in a heartbeat.

Each of our Uni trips has been 2.5 to 3 park days, with 2-4 hotel nights (depending on flights and family / travel). We have family in FL, so we've taken to splitting the Thanksgiving holiday between the relatives and the wizards. That way, we can count on getting a minimum of 2 trips out of our annual (or "seasonal") passes. Plus, the annual passes usually allow a room discount too. We've found them to be a great deal.

We don't combine Disney with Uni trips. Honestly, each place has it's own bubble. We don't like to pop the bubble, either one!

Edited to add:
If you're planning a Uni trip, there is a Universal subform on DISboards. Not super active, but there are some very helpful & friendly folks over there. The stickies are fantastic resources for hotel info, restaurant help, and literally, everything Harry Potter.

That’s encouraging that you like both. I’m still undecided, so I will check out the other forums and info about the hotels.

 

[have2getaway]

Read some of the trip reports in the trip report forum

Zero in on the reports for PBH
Some of the reports two years ago are quite similar to present ones

You can find more in depth experiences others share on what made their stay there excellent

You’ll read first hand experiences and what worked for them
Many share their pictures

Not many peeps write trip reports
But the ones that do were so excited to share in order to let readers be aware of how great the hotel was during their stay

All the hotels have threads about them

Sometimes you can learn a lot by the reports that will guide you in making a decision on which hotel resort will beat suit your needs

There some things at the 3 resorts that draws me in

I wish there was one hotel onsite that met all my wishes ....

There are something’s I love about each of the deluxe hotels, you can’t go wrong with any of them

Take the pluses of what others have posted here and read trip reports of those in that forum
Compare them and go with your gut feeling for your stay

Thank you! This is great advice. I’m going to check out the hotel threads now.

 

[have2getaway]

We really love Portofino ! It's just dh and I and we were in the wing overlooking the bay. From there we found everything at the resort was within a 5-10 minute walk and it was all so beautiful we never found it to be too spread out. That said we love resorts with "space" so I get that others may find it more spread out than a typical Disney resort.
Our first time was a one night stay which we loved !
Just to add....we didn't get to the other hotels so I cant really compare. That said Loew's Portofino is a member of Amex Fine hotels so that means breakfast included, $100 food and beverage credit and guaranteed 4pm check out. I don't see us going to the other resorts anytime soon

What is an Amex Fine resort? I’m assuming it’s related to American Express? Do you have to have Amex for the perks?

 

[have2getaway]

If you have 4 or 5 in your group, it is possible to come out ahead by booking a one night stay at one of the 3 deluxe hotels

Everyone in your room is allowed the free unlimited express pass and early entry for the day you check in and out

Two days of unlimited ep could be worth it
UT had some decent prices for P2P two day tickets

The value hotel will be cheaper than rpr but for the free ep, worth it if the park attendance is high

First day you might not check in early enough for EE but the second day you would

If you are a potter fan, ee is worth it

I’m ok with potter and hit they are when I meet up with my friends
When I’m at potter solo I am there for butterbeer, eaterie and their outdoor shows
I do long stays so cover it all little by little during my vacation there

Came back to add on if you do a day trip only, you can upgrade your one day tix to the 2 day tix at guest services

It needs to be upgraded before the park closes that day
The value of that one day ticket is applied to the upgraded multi day pass

Do we have to wait until we check in to get the fast pass?

 

[pangyal]

What is an Amex Fine resort? I’m assuming it’s related to American Express? Do you have to have Amex for the perks?

It’s for Amex Platinum cardholders. We’ve never ended up using the program, since they artificially inflate the prices for their FHR hotels in a way that really just voids any benefits that are included. It’s always cheaper to go with the SMSM or APH rates, or even just book directly with the hotel, so you’re definitely not missing out!

 

[have2getaway]

It’s for Amex Platinum cardholders. We’ve never ended up using the program, since they artificially inflate the prices for their FHR hotels in a way that really just voids any benefits that are included. It’s always cheaper to go with the SMSM or APH rates, or even just book directly with the hotel, so you’re definitely not missing out!

What is SMSM? Is APH Annual Passholder? I did notice that the Universal Annual Pass is very reasonable, so reasonable I can see why people buy one.

 

[pangyal]

What is SMSM? Is APH Annual Passholder? I did notice that the Universal Annual Pass is very reasonable, so reasonable I can see why people buy one.

SMSM is Stay More Save More and yes to APH. The savings for the hotels with an AP seems to more than make up for the small extra cost of purchasing the pass.

 

[macraven]

Do we have to wait until we check in to get the fast pass?

When you check into the hotel, all in your party will get the hotel room key

This hotel key is what you show to use the express lines

So to answer your question, yes you need to check into the hotel first

 

[ChristineOH]

When you check into the hotel, all in your party will get the hotel room key

This hotel key is what you show to use the express lines

So to answer your question, yes you need to check into the hotel first

Is this a new procedure? When we went in 2015, we had to go to the front desk to get room "keys" for the hotel. (It was too early to get keys for our actual room.) Then we had to go to the Universal ticket desk to get our park tickets. Then we had to go to a kiosk to get our Express Pass. Then, when we got the "room ready" text, we had to go back to the hotel desk and get new tickets for our room. It was quite the process.

We are going this June, and it would be great if they have streamlined everything! It's a pain having to have all of those cards. And then if you get a meal card, it's another thing to carry around.