Trip coming up....help please, trying to decide what to do

[lemonears6]

we have a suprise trip coming up in December. My husband and I are surprising our 4 kids ( 12,11,9 &7) 2 boys/2 girls with a trip to Florida!!! It will be a short trip but we are really excited.( don’t plan to tell them till we go) Anyways We know 100% we are doing MVMCP one night. We have never been so that was a must. Already have tickets. But that’s all we have planned. We will only have 3 days to do stuff. We thought one day we would go to the ocean even though it might be a little cold. And one day doing MVMCP that leaves one day open. We are torn between animal kingdom or trying universal for the first time. We have been to Disney over 7 times but have yet to ever go to universal. We are a big disney family and love it so I’m so torn. If we do universal we would only have 1 day. Would it make sense to do it all in one day? Should we do the park to park at universal? Our 12 year old is not a harry Potter fan at all. But our other 3 like it. Mostly our 9 year old. But animal kingdom is one of there favorites.....ugh. This is hard. Need help please

 

[mousehouse23]

If you get the park-to-park Universal ticket, go into it knowing you won't have time to do everything you want. Our family did this a couple trips ago and didn't regret it, although it was extremely pricey and a very long day.

My kids are fairly enthusiastic Harry Potter fans, but they also love roller coasters, and really enjoyed The Simpsons ride, Spiderman and other attractions there. It's tough if it's crowded, though, which is why a lot of people stay one night on Universal property to secure the "Express pass" benefit so they can cut out a lot of time waiting in lines.

I'm a Disney diehard, but I have to say, my kids loved Universal, and it even wins out over Disney for my daughter. (But I still love her. )

 

[lemonears6]

If you get the park-to-park Universal ticket, go into it knowing you won't have time to do everything you want. Our family did this a couple trips ago and didn't regret it, although it was extremely pricey and a very long day.

My kids are fairly enthusiastic Harry Potter fans, but they also love roller coasters, and really enjoyed The Simpsons ride, Spiderman and other attractions there. It's tough if it's crowded, though, which is why a lot of people stay one night on Universal property to secure the "Express pass" benefit so they can cut out a lot of time waiting in lines.

I'm a Disney diehard, but I have to say, my kids loved Universal, and it even wins out over Disney for my daughter. (But I still love her. )

So you get free express pass when staying at universal? For all? I’m new to the universal thing. I’m also a huge Disney fan ( our loft is disney theme) thanks for the tips.

 

[mousehouse23]

So you get free express pass when staying at universal? For all? I’m new to the universal thing. I’m also a huge Disney fan ( our loft is disney theme) thanks for the tips.

If you stay at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, or Loews Royal Pacific Resort, then you get the free Unlimited Express Pass for everyone, which is a huge, huge deal. If you stay at their Cabana Bay Beach Resort or Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, you don't get Express Pass but can enter one park an hour early to ride certain attractions.

 

[lemonears6]

If you stay at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, or Loews Royal Pacific Resort, then you get the free Unlimited Express Pass for everyone, which is a huge, huge deal. If you stay at their Cabana Bay Beach Resort or Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, you don't get Express Pass but can enter one park an hour early to ride certain attractions.

ok thanks. looked into it..... staying at one of the hotels for free express pass is just not in our budget this time... thanks though.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

we have a suprise trip coming up in December. My husband and I are surprising our 4 kids ( 12,11,9 &7) 2 boys/2 girls with a trip to Florida!!! It will be a short trip but we are really excited.( don’t plan to tell them till we go) Anyways We know 100% we are doing MVMCP one night. We have never been so that was a must. Already have tickets. But that’s all we have planned. We will only have 3 days to do stuff. We thought one day we would go to the ocean even though it might be a little cold. And one day doing MVMCP that leaves one day open. We are torn between animal kingdom or trying universal for the first time. We have been to Disney over 7 times but have yet to ever go to universal. We are a big disney family and love it so I’m so torn. If we do universal we would only have 1 day. Would it make sense to do it all in one day? Should we do the park to park at universal? Our 12 year old is not a harry Potter fan at all. But our other 3 like it. Mostly our 9 year old. But animal kingdom is one of there favorites.....ugh. This is hard. Need help please

Unless they are big Harry Potter fans, I wouldn't do Uni. We've done WDW/Uni split stays twice now and, other than the Harry Potter areas, Uni is just not as nice as WDW. Not as well themed at all. I guess if you are a big fan of some of the other lands - Marvel, Simpsons, etc.? It's just not our thing! If you ARE big Harry Potter fans, then, yes, go. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is really amazing and, yes, you can do that in one day, however I highly recommend getting a park-to-park pass so you can ride Hogwart's Express (arguably the best Harry Potter ride!) and express pass (it makes a HUGE difference in wait times).

I'm going to assume, however, that tickets to Animal Kingdom will be far less than the Uni park-to-park express pass tickets. And Animal Kingdom is pretty freaking awesome! Again, unless you have big Harry Potter fans, my vote would be for Animal Kingdom.

 

[mousehouse23]

ok thanks. looked into it..... staying at one of the hotels for free express pass is just not in our budget this time... thanks though.

I totally understand. It really is pricey.

 

[mamamelody2]

I would do AK. I think trying to do both Universal parks is a bit much. Also, I know a lot of their rides are more intense than Disney rides. My 11 year old isn't in to ANY big/intense rides. I don't know about yours.
Although, like others have said, if they are big into Harry Potter, then by all means do Universal!

 

[Haley R]

I think the rides at Universal are awesome but that’s because
I like thrill rides and Disney lacks some in that department. However, one day for both parks is not going to do much for you. There is just too much to see and do.

 

[pitpat]

on a short trip like that, I'd keep it simple and focus on WDW. Too much running around to different places each day doesn't sound as fun to me.

 

[CynBeth]

I would skip the beach and Universal so you can see the storytellers and possibly CP at Epcot and visit AK.

 

[bchbetha]

If you never try Universal, how can you know if you’ll like it or not? We all prefer it to Disney. We like Disney fine but Universal is better for us. I’d let your family try something new. They are the perfect age for Universal.

 

[heather13]

We just returned from Disney & Universal today. I was not a fan of spending one day at Universal. We had park to park and it ended up being a very expensive day to see very little. My 9yo was too short to do a lot of the rides, my girls weren't interested in many of the virtual reality options, and the other rides were either water rides or for much younger kids.
Even though we're VERY big HP fans and enjoyed that area a lot, I regret that we didn't just do an extra Disney day for that cost. If we were to do it over, I'd either plan 2-3 days at Universal or the whole time at WDW.

 

[damo]

What are your dates? There are ways to get great deals depending on when you are going.

 

[2forMe]

I would skip the beach.

 

[nighttowll]

As much as I love Universal, I'd do AK. I'd wait and try to do Universal when you can devote more time, and the two youngest are a couple of years older.

Each park really needs a full day to see (discounting all the extra Christmas stuff). I usually recommend 3 days for a first trip. 1 per park, and then an extra day to repeat favorites and to do anything you ran out of time for the first two days.

I may be wrong, but I feel like there would be a lot going against you that might taint a first experience. Trying to do Universal in one day, in busy December, with four kids, no express pass, possible issues with rides (height requirements, scare factors, motion sickness, thrill ride factors), and you having no past experience with Universal, AK seems like the safer option. Plus, it sounds like you guys are wanting a more relaxed slower paced trip, so again trying to cram two new parks into one day, might not be best.

 

[lemonears6]

What are your dates? There are ways to get great deals depending on when you are going.

We arrive on the 19th so we have 20th, 21, and 22nd and we leave the 23rd. We are doing MVMCP on the 21st

 

[lemonears6]

As much as I love Universal, I'd do AK. I'd wait and try to do Universal when you can devote more time, and the two youngest are a couple of years older.

Each park really needs a full day to see (discounting all the extra Christmas stuff). I usually recommend 3 days for a first trip. 1 per park, and then an extra day to repeat favorites and to do anything you ran out of time for the first two days.

I may be wrong, but I feel like there would be a lot going against you that might taint a first experience. Trying to do Universal in one day, in busy December, with four kids, no express pass, possible issues with rides (height requirements, scare factors, motion sickness, thrill ride factors), and you having no past experience with Universal, AK seems like the safer option. Plus, it sounds like you guys are wanting a more relaxed slower paced trip, so again trying to cram two new parks into one day, might not be best.

Makes sense. I do worry that making a first time there all into one day during busy season and not knowing the park might not be as fun and planning a future trip and spreading it out. Our 9 and 12 year old love thrill rides and our 7 and 11 year old not so much. I do worry about the height requirements. I know all our kids love Disney and AK is one of there favorites so will probably just stick with that

 

[lemonears6]

I would skip the beach.

What are the temps normally?

 

[damo]

We arrive on the 19th so we have 20th, 21, and 22nd and we leave the 23rd. We are doing MVMCP on the 21st

That's peak time. You'll have a tough time getting a reasonably priced room with express passes.