Disney World Universal Split Trip

[Jahend08]

We are headed to Orlando for a family trip (2 adults, & kids; 12, 11, 8) next year. We went a couple of years ago but only did Disney; this time we are making it a long trip and want to work in Universal as well. I need help figuring out the logistics of it all. We do not want to stay on property (I know I know, but it just isn't enough room).

As of right now; the plan is:
May 21-31 rent house/townhouse at Windsor Hills - we will visit Disney 6 or 7 days and spend other days at beach, resort, disney springs. .
May 31 check out of house and check into Loews Royal Pacific (so that we get the express pass for free) I've heard you can check in as early as 7AM to get the passes and head to the park
June 1 check out of Loews Royal Pacific (leave bags with concierge and enjoy day at the park)
June 1 evening check into inexpensive hotel
June 2 enjoy some of universal before heading to the airport for departure.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on this? Is there a better way to do it?

I appreciate everyone's help!

 

[CanuckHockeyDad]

We are doing a similar trip in January.

Also staying at the Royal Pacific to get their express pass. However we are doing the Universal part of our trip first. The thinking is to get an "extra" day ticket for Universal (4 in total) and use it during our "Disney" part of the stay. We also stay offsite for space and convenience. We are booked into a 2 bedroom condo at Orange Lake Resort.

We are doing Universal for 2 nights and 3 days
Then move to Orange Lake for 9 nights.
4 day Universal ticket
6 day Disney ticket

You could consider flipping, staying at your inexpensive hotel the first night, then Royal Pacific, then your condo and Disney.

We've stayed at Orange lake before and done Disney. But like you this will be our first experience at Universal.

 

[Jahend08]

We are doing a similar trip in January.

Also staying at the Royal Pacific to get their express pass. However we are doing the Universal part of our trip first. The thinking is to get an "extra" day ticket for Universal (4 in total) and use it during our "Disney" part of the stay. We also stay offsite for space and convenience. We are booked into a 2 bedroom condo at Orange Lake Resort.

We are doing Universal for 2 nights and 3 days
Then move to Orange Lake for 9 nights.
4 day Universal ticket
6 day Disney ticket

You could consider flipping, staying at your inexpensive hotel the first night, then Royal Pacific, then your condo and Disney.

We've stayed at Orange lake before and done Disney. But like you this will be our first experience at Universal.

How far is Orange Lake from Disney? We've stayed at Windsor Hills before and LOVED how close it was to the parks.

 

[CanuckHockeyDad]

How far is Orange Lake from Disney? We've stayed at Windsor Hills before and LOVED how close it was to the parks.

It is literally right beside Animal Kingdom. So easy to get in and out fairly quickly. Obviously a car is a must. Googlemaps will show you.

Not promoting it per se. Likely similar to you and Windsor Hills, we've stayed at Orange Lake before and know what to expect.

 

[JCaldwell]

We just got back from our first split UO/WDW trip. We did 3 days UO (1st visit) and then 4 days WDW (4th visit). Like you, we stayed at a cheap hotel and then moved to UO onsite hotel (Portofino) for express passes. Some thoughts:

1) It is very easy to get your Express Passes from the hotel. It took us about 30 minutes at 7AM.
2) Hotel EPs are game changers - you'll never want to go again without them. Check the crowd levels on June 2 - you may not enjoy going if the crowds are high because you won't have EPs.
3) With EPs, you can do *everything* in the parks, multiple times, over and over, in about 2.5 days. You'll run out of things to do. (Except Hagrids)
4) We didn't go to Volcano Bay, but it is supposed to be the best water park in Orlando.
5) Planning at UO was silly easy. Just decide if you want to try to ride Hagrids or not. The entire UO property is smaller than AK and so it's easy to get into the parks from your hotel.

Finally, do WDW first. After Express Passes at UO our tolerance for WDW bull**** was very low. At UO it was less than 15 minutes for any ride, and if the kids said "lets go again! (and again!)" it was no problem. At WDW (Crowd levels 4-6) we were thinking "I've been in the park for 4 hours and all I've done is 2 fast pass rides and a bunch of walking with crowds. This sucks."

 

[CanuckHockeyDad]

JC - thanks for your comments!

I've done little to nothing on the "planning" for UO, other than make reservations.

I assume, from your comment, that the new Hagrid's ride is the big draw with the long line?

I assume it makes sense to "rope drop" it during the 1 hour extra entry time slot, then move on to other rides?

 

[Jahend08]

We just got back from our first split UO/WDW trip. We did 3 days UO (1st visit) and then 4 days WDW (4th visit). Like you, we stayed at a cheap hotel and then moved to UO onsite hotel (Portofino) for express passes. Some thoughts:

1) It is very easy to get your Express Passes from the hotel. It took us about 30 minutes at 7AM.
2) Hotel EPs are game changers - you'll never want to go again without them. Check the crowd levels on June 2 - you may not enjoy going if the crowds are high because you won't have EPs.
3) With EPs, you can do *everything* in the parks, multiple times, over and over, in about 2.5 days. You'll run out of things to do. (Except Hagrids)
4) We didn't go to Volcano Bay, but it is supposed to be the best water park in Orlando.
5) Planning at UO was silly easy. Just decide if you want to try to ride Hagrids or not. The entire UO property is smaller than AK and so it's easy to get into the parks from your hotel.

Finally, do WDW first. After Express Passes at UO our tolerance for WDW bull**** was very low. At UO it was less than 15 minutes for any ride, and if the kids said "lets go again! (and again!)" it was no problem. At WDW (Crowd levels 4-6) we were thinking "I've been in the park for 4 hours and all I've done is 2 fast pass rides and a bunch of walking with crowds. This sucks."

Thank you so much!
1. Glad to hear it is extremely easy to get the passes upon check in
2. I only plan on going on june 2nd if we get the buy 2 get 1 day free ticket and in that case; we'll do all of the riding those first two days and spend that last day taking in the other things the park has to offer.
3/5. Clearly I need to read up on Hagrids; I've really not done much planning for this part of the trip.

I have read that Universal is just SOO much more relaxing; which is why we are putting it at the end of our stay. I also figure by the end of our trip most schools will be out and the parks will only be getting more and more full. I'd much rather deal with crowds at universal with the EP's than at WDW.

 

[klmall]

We have done the split trip several times; most recently in May 2017. We have always done WDW first so we can slow down at Universal and spend 1/2 to 2/3 of each day doing our favorite attractions and then just relax. I love not having to plan anything in advance at Universal other than getting to Hogwarts or any Harry Potter that we want to do. You can run out of things to do but that's not a problem because then you can just spend time enjoying everything else around you. We like Royal Pacific and Hard Rock for different reasons and will only stay at a Universal hotel that has Express access and we always find deals that save us money on both passes and the hotel room. Last trip I bought an limited seasonal pass that allowed us to book a great room at Hard Rock for the price of some of the non-Express hotel rooms. Even counting the pass cost we still came out way ahead for our 3 night stay.

 

[JCaldwell]

CanuckHockeyDad, Jahend08:

Hagrids is the new roller coaster and it is NOT included in Express Passes. I've read in other forums that UO may wait a year or more before adding a new ride to the EP system so plan accordingly. Some notes:

1) Hagrids is in Hogsmead (Islands of Adventure). The other part of Harry Potter land is Diagon Alley in Universal Studios Florida.
2) When we visited, the only thing open for early park access was Diagon Alley. So you can't use hotel early entry to RD Hagrids.
3) Hagrids may not open right at RD. It may open 2-3 hours later. It may close early. It may go down in the middle of the day.
4) Normal wait times while we were there were hovering around 100 - 300 minutes.

It was a skip for us.