If you wanted to add UO to a ten day trip how would you do it? We are HP fans, how many days would we need? Late August trip, go to UO before or after Disney?
Thinking 2 days. I’d prob do it in the middle of a trip. Stay on property at UOR. Check-in early one day such that you can enjoy early entry day of check-in. Then, early entry again day of check out. At the end of day 2, I’d return to WDW that night and finish the trip w a few days there.
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In an ideal world, I would do as @Sam2071 suggests and go to universal in the middle of the trip and stay on property to get all the benefits associated with that, but then still be able to finish the trip with that ‘Disney magic’. However it’s a bit of a hassle packing up all your stuff 3 times in one trip - some peeps might not mind, but I could not really be bothered.
So usually we stay on property at Disney for the whole trip and either drive, or get the mears bus over to universal a couple of days around about the middle of our trip. Agree that you need at least two days - especially with all the harry potter new stuff.
This trip we are doing 8 days at disney and then staying on property at uni for a couple of days at the end - would not normally bother, but want to get early entry to Harry Potter this time as it is still all so new and crazy busy.
The other thing to consider is that if you love thrill rides, you may find disney a bit tame if you go there after having just been to Uni ( I know my teenage son does!).
There are some great touring plans for uni on here - diff ones depending on if you have early entry or not. Also some great blogs too - I would post the links, but my Internet is glitchy and I can’t open the pages I want at the mo - I’ll try again later if no one else beats me too it!
Last year, we ended our trip at Universal for a day & a 1/2 - would not recommend that. We enjoyed Universal/IoA but ending the trip on a non-magical note was a bit of a bummer. So, in 11 days, we’ll be starting our trip on property at Universal for 2 days and then going to WDW. I’m predicting that 2 days at Universal will be enough for us with hopefully lower crowds for HP & Express Pass for everything else. We’ll see.
That is an interesting point @Ellen1976 makes about the thrill rides. Fortunately, my DD17 & DD10 still enjoy the magic just as much as thrill rides. (Well, almost. I’m sure we’ll be spending most of our time on RnR, ToT, Space, & EE.)
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Totally agree with you about ending a trip on non magical note - we went round in circles trying to decide on uni at start or end of trip - still not sure we’ve made the right choice, but oh well!
http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/07/31/new-universal-orlando-two-daytwo-park-touring-plans/
Here’s the link I mentioned before - loads of good stuff here.
This is great info, thanks. I have never been to Universal (in Orlando) but we will be taking a 10-11 day trip to WDW and Universal in August of 2016 and I have no idea how to plan it. We are going to be taking my 11 yr old goddaughter who will be visiting from the UK and it will be her first time. So excited!
I agree - absolutely would not end the trip with it. It is impressive, especially if you like WDW, but I still would not end with it.
If you hate changing hotels, then front of the trip is decent.
Middle of the trip gives you a break from WDW if you are staying for lots of days but you have to change hotels twice - assuming you are staying on their property of course.
Last time we did two parks in one day and just drove over in the middle of our trip. But HP was only in the one park then. Tougher to do that now… We got tix (and bus pass) from DreamsUnlimited which got us the unadvertised early entry benefit. (no one official will confirm this…) We got HP done in the first hour, then saw both parks, then closed HP at 7 pm and felt like it was worth it. But it was a slow time (mid Oct), we didnt buy front of the line, and we didnt care to ride the other big coasters.
This time we will stay at WLodge for 2 nights (got a great deal), then switch to two nights at Universal, (get early entry, express pass). Again, mid October so parks close at like 6 or 7, but I am certain we will hit everything we want just fine. Just heard that they are only doing early entry for Diagon Alley now, so …
Then our second day at Uni, we will leave at park close (6 or 7), go to B&C for ice cream, and hit Epcot evening EMH. Staying at POFQ for the last 5 nights.