Typically we'd go to Disney when in Orlando, but with my 7 year old daughter being into Harry Potter recently I thought it may be a good idea to check out Universal Studios this time. Looking at going 2/11-2/15. I do have a costco membership so I was checking those deals but they didn't seem that great. I was looking at some old threads but it seems like most of the information is all around Disney. Anyone have some past experiences to help? Would be four of us - my wife, me, and 7 and 3 year old girls.

I can't speak to any current situation re: COVID and such but our Harry Potter fanatic son loved it, as did the rest of us. Having said that, he was 7 at the time too and didn't enjoy the rides so much. (He never really has, tbh.) As a parent I was like "We spent all this money you better get on some damn rides!"

Our family hasn't been to Disney yet but from my recollection as a child and from talking to other parents, UStudios is for an older crowd. Still, our kids (7, 5, 3 at the time) enjoyed it and really loved the Dr. Seuss land.


I'd recommend starting at Diagonal Alley then take the train to Hogwarts over the other way around. The secret wall into diagonal is pretty cool.

Thanks!

We took our 3 kids (17,15,12) last year at exactly the same time you want to go. We loved it. We were in the park 4 days and it was too much. You can get by with 2 but 3 would be perfect. Plenty for kids your age to do. Though, parents be warned, there are some vomitous rides. That's where the universal guidebook will come in handy (see below).

I'd recommend staying on property. We stayed at Royal Pacific. It's about a 10 minute walk or a 5 min boat ride. It gets you into one of the parks an hour early. And you get line cutting privileges as well on a lot of rides.

I'd recommend subscribing to undercover tourist which can give you some helpful hints and some idea on crowd sizes on the days you want to go. Maybe also buy a guidebook on universal to study the tricks (like getting in the gate and immediately running to the back of the park to get in line for Hagrid's Motorbikes). Make sure you get the most recent edition.

Make sure your ticket allows you to hop between parks. They're connected by Hogwarts Express.

+1 on staying on site. We liked Hard Rock.

Took my 7 year old to Universal last year for the first time also. He absolutely loved it.

We went again this October during Covid. We did a Disney trip and took one day out to go to Universal. If you do it that way, and don't stay at a Universal resort, then definitely get the Universal Express Pass if you can. It'll save your sanity. There are 2 options, 1) get one fast pass on every ride, or 2) get unlimited fast passes on every ride. It's expensive, but if you only do 1 or 2 days there it'll help you do every ride (except for a couple). You may not need that if you stay on site. On the Harry Potter rides it's normal to see a 60-120 minute wait. Being able to skip to the front of those rides is a parental sanity saver. It's much better than the Disney fast pass system, other than Disney's is free. But in October Disney was not doing fast passes whereas Universal still was.

The Universal parks are laid out like a big circle or clock. You can't really skip across the park to do things. So I wouldn't worry about planning out the rides too much. Just walk in the big circle and ride the ones your kid might like. At that age some of the big ones are anything Harry Potter, Transformers, Kong, Spiderman, etc.

This October the lines for all the rides took longer than normal. Universal seemed to be operating at a much higher crowd capacity than Disney. Disney was a little more cautious, Universal seemed more business is business. Having said that, both parks would take time outs to clean and disinfect all the rides, etc. So, even if there's less people, the lines still take pretty long to get through. I think the Transformers and Spiderman rides would also get up around 2 hours vs with Universal Express you just walked to the front.

If you end up staying at Disney and doing a Disney trip, it's easy to Uber or Lyft over to Universal. It's about a $30-40 ride each way.

It's been a few years, but when I took my son, we stayed on-site to get the early entry access. Stayed at the Royal Pacific, which was nice without breaking the bank.

I bought tickets through Universal because they were running some sort of special at the time.

When you ride the two "headliner" HP rides, make sure in at least one go-round you do the full queue experience. The attention to detail rivals anything Disney has ever done. I'm a Disney snob and was thoroughly impressed.

Single rider is great, but you do skip the majority of the interactive queue if you do that option. Also, if lines are very short, you may not get the full experience, just because you're moving through so quickly.

The rest of Universal was just meh for me. I wasn't impressed, and a lot of the rides gave me motion sickness (including the HP rides, but they were worth it).

We went at Thanksgiving and rented a car to hop over to MK for the Very Merry Christmas Party one evening. It was worth it. We've also done the Halloween party at Disneyland, and it was excellent. I'm sure WDW does an equally good job.

I haven't read all the responses, but if you stay in one of the top 3 tier hotels, you get "free skip the line access" (in Disney terms, similar to having FastPass for almost every ride). If you stay in one of these, 2 days is plenty. If you stay in a regular hotel, then 3 days might be preferable.

I loved Harry Potter. I went by myself about 4 years ago, and I was able to ride almost everything I wanted to in 1 day, however I was getting in the "single car rider" line for almost every ride. Hot butterbeer is life.

As far as discounts, Undercover tourist might be able to beat booking direct, as may Cosco. Obviously I don't use either of these since I'm a travel agent, but I know UT does discount Disney. I would just be aware of the cancellation penalties for either of those. When booking direct for hotel/tickets, it does have the option to be fully refundable with the purchase of an insurance plan.

Send me a message and I can help out. I book Disney and Universal.

Csmith at travelwithontheroad.com.

We had Universal passes until just this past December. We were there less than a month ago. Other than needing to wear a mask at all times (when not eating or drinking) and the 6ft distancing in lines and rides, the park was operating as normal.

One of the best rides is also the newest (Hagrid's Motorbike ride), and I'd call it a must if you or your kid like coaster rides. It'll have a 90 minute wait (at a minimum) from basically park opening until close. And that can be even WITH an express pass. So if you're gonna splurge on a trip just go ahead and stay on property so you can get the early access to the parks. Parking is not a hassle, its a parking garage rather than a huge lot like Disney, but if you stay on property you'll also be able to ride a bus to the parks, which is nice.

Drink some butterbeer (cold is better than hot) and pumpkin juice, and take your time strolling through Diagon Alley (its fantastic). And 2 days would probably be enough to do everything you want to do. My son and I could speed through both parks in one day, hitting pretty much all the rides we like, but we weren't the normal tourists.

Thanks everyone for their posts.

Just emailed you.

Csmith@travelwithontheroad.com? I don't have an email yet. PM me your email and I will send you an email.

Curious to get some feedback on an upcoming spring break trip. We are planning to do 4 days at each Disney park (with hopper) and a day at universal with express pass . We fly in on Friday and leave Thursday. Thinking:

- Saturday at universal
- Sunday at animal kingdom
- Monday at magic
- Tuesday at Hollywood
- Wednesday at Epcot

Does this take best advantage of crowds, esp with the spring break time frame? Anything I'm not thinking of?

Looks good. Plan on park hopping for Animal Kingdom and possibly Epcot (depending on how much you visit). I would definitely check if park hopping is really necessary.

If you haven't booked everything, send me an email and I will be happy to assist.

Hincemm said:

---

Curious to get some feedback on an upcoming spring break trip. We are planning to do 4 days at each Disney park (with hopper) and a day at universal with express pass . We fly in on Friday and leave Thursday. Thinking:

- Saturday at universal
- Sunday at animal kingdom
- Monday at magic
- Tuesday at Hollywood
- Wednesday at Epcot

Does this take best advantage of crowds, esp with the spring break time frame? Anything I'm not thinking of?

---

I don't think I would spend the money on park hoppers at Disney. You waste so much time traveling between them, it's not worth the money. You're already looking at a park a day, just commit to that.

I agree, but these are the salute (military) tickets and come with hopper

This is how I would arrange it and why - without having looked at any park schedules or expected wait-times, % capacity type info, etc.

• 1st Disney day at Magic Kingdom. It's the most Disney of all the parks, and it's the toughest to cover in a single day. Do it early in the trip when you've got the most energy. get there early, stay late, don't hold back.
• 2nd Disney day at Hollywood Studios. Lots to do, and the Star Wars stuff in particular is supposed to be super cool (although I haven't experienced it yet in person) but it's still an easily manageable one-day park.
• 3rd Disney day at Animal Kingdom. It's a park easily covered in a single day, it shuts down earlier than the others, and their night show is weakest of all = good night mid-trip to call it quits early and get a good full night's sleep to refresh.
• 4th Disney day at Epcot, lots to do, but it's a more relaxed and casual experience, so a nice way to wind-down the trip.
• Universal on day 5*. Ride the rides until you're ready to puke, then call it a night and head home.

*(Note, the itinerary above essentially reflects my belief that Universal rides are better than Disney rides, and the Disney overall experience is better than the Universal overall experience. Because of that, I generally find the attractions at Disney to be a let-down compared to Universal's if I do universal first. If you have the same thoughts with regard to the overall experience, then maybe move the Universal day to the front and do the Disney days last. And then flipflop AK and HS so that again - AK is the middle day of the trip/parks)

Universal blows Disney away!!!!!