Hi all!
I’ve been busy planning an early February trip to Disney. After some thought, we just changed it to a Universal / Sea World trip. It’s not been that long since we went to Disney. Kids aren’t excited. And the price difference was exceptional. We found a great deal. So, here I am basically going from expert planner to not knowing much.
At Disney, I studied the refurbs, discount history, hotels, food options, touring plans, crowd calendar, etc. Found YouTubers that basically go there every day. It feels harder to find these things for Universal. (Honestly, that’s probably a good thing. And hoping this will be a slower, less laser focused trip)
Questions:
We are booked for Dockside. Is it worth $200 to move to Surfside? I’m reading that it’s quieter and less crowded. Possibly better food. Although, we are coming from Disney value and Moderate, so maybe not a big deal?
Is Express Pass needed for slower winter weekdays? We have park to park tickets and planning 2.5 days at Universal parks - Kindergarten age children, one thrill seeking adult, and one often motion sick adult (me Ha!)
Where do I go to get the insider details about when to be where and what to watch out for, etc? Honestly, hoping this is a slow and easy trip where we can do a bit more wandering, looking, and taking it in than we’ve done at Disney.
Planning to take the trolley to Sea World. Is that a bad idea? It’s 15 minutes. Is it worth scheduling our days to go during Sea World food festival?
Any help is appreciated. I feel like I am starting over.
Room wise, they are identical, other than color scheme. But of the two, we preferred Surfside slightly due to the smaller size. Dockside felt very busy. But honestly, they are fairly equivalent otherwise. If the price difference is insignificant, I’d pick Surfside. But if the savings is enough, I’d be happy enough with Dockside.
Regarding the food…hard to compare, since when we were at Surfside not everything had reopened due to the pandemic, so it was rather mediocre. But I’d imagine they are fairly similar.
We’ve never gotten Express Pass, so I’d definitely say “no”. However, we do a bit longer trips. But if you are going to be there a minimum of 3 days, you can get everything done without any issues and no Express Pass for sure.
Meclizine is your friend!!!
To me, the best YouTuber for Universal is probably Rix Flix.
Universal doesn’t take nearly the level of planning that Disney does!
Check ride heights and the height of your kids. There honestly isn’t a huge amount at Universal for the smalls…but if your child is tall enough, they will have a blast.
I haven’t been to Sea World since I was like 10 (so, like 41 years ago)…got no advice there!
The best YouTube channels for UOR are RixFlix, The Pugh Two, Mammoth Club and Vincent Vision.
I think RixFlix is there most often.
They’re all fun to watch and are quite knowledgeable.
No. If you’re upgrading consider Aventura or Cabana Bay. CB is great for littles. The pools are great and characters roam the lobby.
It’s never needed at any time of year, but it is a beautiful thing to have.
True…but The Pugh Two is now The Pugh One. I haven’t watched it since they split up, but to me what made them worth watching was their varying personalities interacting, so I’m afraid I’m not sure if it is still worth watching now. Maybe someone else can chime in there.
I’ve been taking my kids to UOR since they were 3 and 4.
There is SO MUCH for the littles.
I lament the end of Barney/Curious George and the Ball Factory, but honestly the new DreamWorks Land is a fantastic replacement and I’m sure my kids would’ve loved it just as much as the old stuff if they had experienced it at that young age.
And that’s just one land! So many other things for the littles. Seuss, Camp Jurassic! It’s a fantastic park for all ages.
Plus, if you’re doing rider switch, for the things the littles can’t ride, it’s an absolute breeze.
This makes me wonder about rooms. Are you (@hartcruise) planning to book a standard room, or suite at Dockside/Surfside? We love the suite, because if gives you a bit of privacy from the kids and more space to spread out. Totally worth it. We looked at the room layouts of Cabana Bay suites, but honestly, they just weren’t as nicely laid out.
It is a moot point if you are just planning on a standard room.
Maybe I should phrase it differently. At Universal, there is stuff that the little kids can do, and there is stuff that the older kids/adults can do…but there isn’t a ton of overlap. Whereas at Disney, almost EVERYTHING can be done TOGETHER. So it changes the dynamic.
Oh. I thought he had changed it…but I see that the first video he put out was just named “The Pugh One”…but the channel name remains The Pugh Two. Interesting.
I guess it comes down to preference. We were there with Toddlers as well, and, well, other than perhaps The Cat in the Hat, we “tolerated” the kids rides so that they could ride. I wouldn’t call them fun (nor worth the waits…which were often longer than the “big rides”)!
It’s funny, my first trip with DS popped up on Facebook memories this week when he was 5. I laughed at just how much we NEVER do anymore now that he’s just about 16. My favorite was his magical moment opening up the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We never do shows, characters or even parades anymore. It all rides and the more wild the ride the better.
As far as UOR goes, we just took a trip in July and the kids are 14 and 13 now.
They’re not interested in characters, but they still like shows and we still rode every ride in Seuss Landings. The trolley ride is one of DSs favourites, even though VC is also a favourite
We even spent some time climbing around Camp Jurassic.
I guess a lot of what we love about it now is nostalgia.
What a great TR! Thank you. Very helpful. I think my kids will love the Sesame section. Looking forward to that. They have discounts for $30 dolphin interaction until end of the year. Hopefully they will do that again, because it’s looking more like $40-$50 right now. You went in Feb too! Also, helpful to know the food was nothing special and where to find a map. Getting more excited about that portion of the trip.
Thank you! Shortest kiddo is 40 inches. So hoping that will allow us to do a few rides. My biggest concern is more so content (too scary/violent). But, we will probably be sticking to the kiddie type spaces and sending my thrill seeker off to do things solo.
