Universal Day on a Disney Trip

[3BellesAndABeast]

Seeking advice on the best (and most cost efficient) way to do Universal and Disney. We are going to Disney World in June. We love all things Disney and fully enjoy immersing ourselves in the Disney bubble. I have two princess loving girls and we love to soak up the Disney magic. BUT this year we would like to add a day of Universal to the trip. We have little interest in anything there beyond roller coasters for my oldest daughter and DH and Harry Potter. I have come up with three options but welcome any suggestions on things other families have tried! Thanks in advance!

Option 1: Arrive at Universal on the first day of our trip and do the most important things on our list with a 2 park 1 day pass-then check into our Disney hotel. This looks to be very expensive

Option 2: Stay at a Universal property for two nights, not be as rushed, get Early Entry access, but spend less time at Disney.

Option 3: Go straight to Disney but take a day or two within the week for Universal.

Personally, I don't think Universal is worth the money-especially when my youngest will NOT have much to interest her- but DH and DD13 are very insistent so I am desperately searching for the best option.

 

[Marthasor]

Would DH and DD13 be interested in doing Universal one day on their own while you and your youngest DD stay at WDW? If so, I think that is what I would do. Stay at WDW the whole time and have DH and DD13 uber over to Universal for the day while you and your youngest do something you would enjoy at WDW. It would at least save on two Universal tickets!

 

[jennygirlmt]

I think it's a bummer that it's so expensive to flip between parks. We are going in Feb when our girls are 6,4 and 20 months and are doing two days at universal on our next trip because our girls (and us) are huuuge potter fans.

So I reached out to my Orlando townie friend and she listed so many things that interest her princess loving 4 year old.

There's too many things for me to even plan for our 2 days. I don't think you'll be at a loss for things to do there.

I'd intersperse it for a change up but you could also start the trip that way. And I think a park to park is only necessary if you love Harry Potter and want to ride the train. Otherwise one park can keep you occupied.

 

[disneyseniors]

We did a one day last year without park hopper, and it was super expensive just for that one day. So this year, we are staying onsite and doing 2 full days.. .You get early entry and front of the line privileges which are unlimited for the attractions. You still have to buy park tickets, but we find it only a little more expensive than day only tickets. There is a lot for little ones to do, ie; Minions, Shrek, homer simpson, suesal land, to name a few.

 

[crazylady]

It is expensive to do both parks on the same trip. But it is worth it especially if you have a HP loving kid. I would go with Option 2 unless your 13 year old and husband would like a day a Universal by themselves. I think either are great options. We loved staying on property at Universal. The front of the line access is awesome. If you go with that option, I recommend adding Universal to the end of your trip because it really spoils you. Prob not relevant to you, but last year the beginning of June was covered under a buy 3 days for the cost of 2 deal at Universal. Also staying one night at a qualifying Universal hotel gets you the front of the line access for 2 days (check in and check out day)

Have fun planning!

 

[Crystal824]

Three times we have left Disney for the day and gone to Universal. We purchased tickets at Costco a number of years ago that gave us 3 days Park to Park at Universal over three years for 150. It was a great deal that they don't have anymore. The first two times we did it, we only had one kid who was nearly 2 and almost 3 when we went. We bought Express Pass and used it like Rider Switch at Disney. It worked well for us. One of us would ride a few things and the other would take our daughter on sometime she wanted. Then we would switch. We did both parks in one day. Granted, we didn't spend much time together as a family. Then we added in the second kid and my mom who went with us on the last trip. We had to buy a ticket and an Express Pass for our older child and my mom, which was expensive. Not to mention, it took a lot of effort to get to Universal from Disney. With two kids and three adults, it just didn't work as well. The older child could ride some things but not everything. The baby couldn't ride much. My mom didn't want to ride much but was uncomfortable splitting up with just her and kids. It just felt like a very expensive "off" day. We decided for our family, we wouldn't be visiting Universal again unless we stayed there and took advantage of early entry and express pass from the hotel. That way we would have enough time for everyone to see and do what they wanted.

I do think if just your DH and older child went for the day, they would have a blast. Universal is a lot of fun, but it is geared to older kids and adults.

 

[littlbugmom]

Would DH and DD13 be interested in doing Universal one day on their own while you and your youngest DD stay at WDW? If so, I think that is what I would do. Stay at WDW the whole time and have DH and DD13 uber over to Universal for the day while you and your youngest do something you would enjoy at WDW. It would at least save on two Universal tickets!

I think this is a good option.

We are not Universal fans. We went at the end of our last Disney trip. One day, both parks.
LOVED Harry Potter World but the cost of buying tickets for both Universal parks in order to see all of HP really got under my skin. I was actually angry about it. DS and I don't ride very much so it felt like a colossal waste of money. I wish Harry Potter was it's own park!

 

[capegirl]

Here is our story...
We took one day from our July 2016 Disney vacation to do Universal. We thought doing two parks in one day in the height of summer would be a struggle, so we decided on the Studios because Diagon Alley was our priority. We went on a Monday, when Universal had an 8:00 am opening for the general public, and 7:00 am for Universal resort guests. Crowd calendars indicated heavy crowds, but we did not purchase the express passes due to cost, but I was nervous about it. That said, I was
determined to be at the gates for rope drop, so we left Disney property at 6:30 am. We arrived at the Universal parking garage just before 7:00 am. I expected long lines at security, but there was no wait at all! We made our way to Diagon Alley fully expecting a long wait for Gringots, but surprisingly it was a walk on! We left Diagon Alley and every ride was a walk on except for Despicable Me which had a 30 minute wait. We returned to Diagon Alley later in the day for some butter beer, and to explore the shops. I have to say that we were also very impressed with the character meet and greets. There were characters everywhere, so many great photo opps. We left Universal around 6:00 pm exhausted, but very happy that we were somehow able to avoid the long lines that were predicted for this particular day in July. My hat is off to all those brave enough to conquor both parks in one day...I would probably need to drink a gallon of Red Bull to keep up with you.