Back after a long break

Hi everyone,
I have been off of the forums for quite awhile now. Our last trip was Oct 2015 and so much seems new! I have been trying to read some posts to catch up on things. I know nothing about rivers of light, Pandora or the new Toy story land coming to HS. The only park I seem to have a grib on is MK!.
I have lots of questions and don’t know where to start but will try…

looking at going back to WDW in early October over a short break that my kids have from school.
My son (12 years old), wants to check out universal which we have never done before. So my preliminary idea is to do Universal first for 1.5 days staying onsite there and transferring to WDW

Would arrive late tues 10/2, do Universal all day wed 10/3, do more universal in the morning thurs 10/4 and then transfer to WDW, probably take an uber over.

We would be at WDW thurs 10/4 in the evening (no park, just hang out at hotel and have dinner), Fri 10/5 (MK during the day/MNSSHP in evening), Sat 10/6 (blizzard beach in morning/early afternoon and AK later afternoon-park close) and Sun 10/7 (HS). if we can get a late flight home (7pm or later) we would fly home Sun night o/w fly home Monday morning. I am still waiting for flight times to be realized by SW which is supposed to happen 3/8.

so here are my questions:
Am I allotting enough time at universal? We would have all day Wed and most of the morning/afternoon on Thurs? I would stay onsite at one of their hotels that offers the express pass. I know nothing about universal and admittedly need to start reading up about it.

I read that staying club level at Disney allows you to purchase 3 extra fp’s per day so having only a few days there, I think we would take advantage of this. I got a quote from my TA at MVT and can stay Poly club level for about $560 per night. so I might do it. i know that’s pricey but’s it about a 38% discount off rack rate and it’s only 3 nights so might be worth the splurge. It’s my fave hotel anyways. Getting 6 fp’s per day would let us get a lot done in a limited amount of time. Has anyone booked these extra fp’s yet through club level? can you overlap times or do they still have to be spaced out an hour?

thanks for any help and excited to be planning another Disney :smile:

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Welcome Back! On site for Universal is the way to go. (We loved Hard Rock).convenient. on site guests get a 1h early entry, plus the express pass is the selling point. .1&1/2 days should be plenty to cover both parks.will let the Pro’s handle the Disney questions. Happy planning :smile:

thx for the input on Uni. I need to start reading about that place now. We would be going mid-week in early October, (TP has the crowd level predicted at 3 or 4 for our dates) so hopefully with express pass we can see most of what we want. thx!

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Welcome back! I agree that you will have plenty of time at Universal if you stay at one of the deluxe resorts. If you purchase the extra FPs you can book them in more than one park and you get a night time show for each night.

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I don’t know all the details but I believe you have to have at least a 3 day park ticket, stay at a club level room and the daily cost is $50 per person, per day for the additional 3 advanced FPP.

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yes, that’s what I found too so for the 3 day trip we have, it would be an extra $600 for the 4 of us total.

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So good to see you back here @mjsmomma!!! Rivers of light is a nice light and projections show, but I found it kinda repetitive and not as cool as other shows. Will probably repeat to make sure I don’t like it and then will not do again. Note, others give it two thumbs way up… so check it out for yourself and let me know what you think! Pandora is incredible you have to do it at both night and day and PLEASE don’t miss FoP. Universal is so cool and I’ve managed to do both parks in one day so you shouldn’t worry - with onsite and express pass, you’ll be more than fine! Have a great trip!!!

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thank you! My plan is to be at AK in the evening to get the full nighttime effects. on both of our prior trips to AK we were out of there by 3pm so this will be different for sure!

Have you considered doing a Mickey’s Not So Scary (assuming the dates permit) as a way to get in extra park time?

hi - yes we will for sure do MNSSHP. probably on friday 10/5.