The way I do a mixed Univ/WDW trip is to divide the trip into 2 and stay at both places, it just makes logistics better and you'll get better perks.
I agree
Regardless of which you do 1st is up to you, but if you have not been for a while, I would suggest doing WDW 1st as that is a bit bigger of a property and while you are fresh, knock out the bigger chunk. Plus stay on site at Univ has some good perks so you can really utilize those when you are at the tail end of the trip.
I agree, plan on WDW then Univ.
I'll assume you are flying into Orlando and will not have a car. The big Disney perk here is the free shuttle called Magical Express that takes you from the airport to your WDW resort, and you don't need to grab your luggage, they will ship it to the room a within a few hours (they will send you yellow luggage tags to put on before you leave). This works both ways (arriving and returning) except that if using ME at the end you just go to the baggage service at each resort and they will tag and transport your luggage from there. That said, if you are splitting between the 2 resorts, you'll only utilize one of these WDW specific services. Likewise, you'll need to arrange transportation to/from Universal from either the airport and to WDW, or vice versa. But Uber is great and only about $40 each trip.
Yes, will be flying in/out. No car, don't see the need staying on property other than getting from WDW to Univ, but you've given some options, thanks.
So lets talk resorts. At WDW you have 3 categories: Value, Moderate and Deluxe.
• Value: These are in the "All-Star" family (All Star Sports, Music, etc) and are your motel style resorts. Mainly Studio rooms with 1 Queen bed and a trundle pull down queen. Rooms open to the outside, and have basic amenities—2 main pools, food court dining, a simple bar. These are also further away from the parks and accommodate more guests, so buses may be fuller, etc.
• Moderate: Step up resort in terms of theming and amenities. Rooms are larger with regular dual beds and bathroom set ups. Rooms still open outside, but are arranged in clusters of 'houses'. Mods have at least 1 sit down restaurant, a quick service restaurant and a well appointed bar. The pools are more themed and generally appointed with pool side bars and food. These resorts are closer to the resorts but not within walking distance, and they are more spread out so there might be a bit more walking distance between buildings.
• Deluxe: these are the signature resorts. Highest appointed with multiple restaurants, bars, amenities (like day spas, beaches, marinas, etc). Most of these resorts are within walking distance to at least 1 park or have monorail and/or boat ferry access to a park.
• Wild Cards: there are a few wild cards: Art of animation resort falls between the value and moderate and are suite styled rooms. Plus they are on the
brand new Skyliner line, which makes them a real gem. Also, Caribbean Beach resort is on the Skyliner line was well, giving them a bump in the moderate category. Then you have Animal Kingdom lodge which is a Deluxe resort, however it is not close enough to any theme park to avoid the buses, but it does have amazing animal viewing in the savannas around the resort and from the rooms.
My wife always wanted to stay at the Contemporary, but we are reviewing options. Is this a good place to stay? It's listed as a Deluxe.
My recommendation is to spend some time on youtube and look for videos that show the different categories and resorts. You'll get a really good feeling for the different resorts and their amenities.
Dovetailing into the resorts is the free dining offer you mentioned. Like the resorts, WDW has a few levels of dining package, with a mix of quick serve, sit down and snack credits. With the free dining, the resort category you stay at determines your meal package (see my post above). However, the differences in the packages are really up to how your family likes to eat. Personally, we were really pro-dining plan but have moved away from it because sit down meals do take up a lot of park time.
As for credits, each package can offers credits for each of the categories
• Quick serve (QS): counter service dining like the burger joints in the parks or the grab and go restaurants in the resorts. Don't be mistaken though, they have evolved far beyond burgers and dogs in these locations and have some really good food options. Each meal is 1 credit and gets you the meal and a drink or alcoholic bev for the adults.
• Table service (TS): These are your full service restaurants where you generally (actually always) need to make reservations. Lots of really great locations and themed restaurants. 90% of them are 1 credit, but some higher end may be 2. The credit gets you the meal (or buffet) and a drink or alcoholic bev for the adults. Yo get your most bang for your buck at buffets here.
• Snacks: These are your popcorns, bottled drinks, mickey bars, ice cream, churros, etc. But they are also things like bagels and muffins so you can use a snack credit as a quick breakfast option.
More details here
Now, I will say that the Free dining offer is a huge wienie to get people to book. However, what they don't tell you is that generally the room rate is going to be full price. They usually (very quietly) release a room discount w/o the free dining at the same time, that—if you do the math—may work out to be cheaper/save you more money than doing the free dining. Especially if you want a higher category resort, but not the large dining package that comes with it.
This is interesting, I looked a few daya ago and didn't see anything, now I see those options as well. I'm on the fence on this...
On the subject of dining, I on't go into it here but if you want any sit down meals, you need to book them at 180 days from check in. This still gives you a month or so, so I'll save that content for later. Disney has some really cool sit down restaurants, and I consider them as much of an attraction as the rides, especially character dining b/c everyone needs to get their character fix on. But it comes at the price of giving up some theme park time, esp if you need to travel to get to the restaurant. So on shorter trips, I usually recommend keeping the dining to a minimum if you can. But here's the hook, if you get the dining plan, you get the credits for each day of our stay, you cant pick and choose days. So if you are there for 4 days, you'll be planning 4 sit down meals or you are kissing credits good bye. Yea, they may be free, bu they may not if you are paying for it in the room rate. But more on that later.
At any category, staying on property gives you a few good perks. The magical Express is one, resort guests get into certain parks earlier or stay later than outside guests. But the big one is that you get 60 day booking access to Fast Passes, vs 30 day for off site guests.
WTF are FastPasses (FPs), they are basically ride reservations. Each guest gets 3 per day to start and it gives you the opportunity to book a time to got to a popular attraction and wait in a shorter line. So 60 days before check in, you can go into the system and pick Big thunder at 10am, Space mountain at 12:30 and then Jungle Cruise at 2. You lock that in and on that day, you have an hour window from your booking time to go to the ride and enter the FP line which is generally shorter (prob 10-20 mins, if any) wait, then the people riding standby (the normal line). Once you used your 3 for the day, you can go in and see about a 4th, and then a 5th once you used that. But, and the but.....these are limited by availability. Really popular rides fill up and may even be 'sold out' of FPs by the time you get to do yours, or you may need to be flexible with your reservations, you may not get Big Thunder at 11, but it may be avail at 7pm. Again, you have time for that, so I don't want to muck up this thread with that info.
More questions to come.
Hoping over to Universal Orlando (UO), UO is a much smaller piece of property and everything is much more compressed. They too have different resort categories, and while I don't know a lot about the differences, what I do know is that there are 3 resorts that give you the "Unlimited Express Pass (UEP)" for staying there. This is just like the Fast Passes listed above where you don't wait on line, but on steroids. Whereas WDW gives you 3 per day that need to be booked 2 mos. ahead, UEP is for any ride, any time, anywhere. If you are walking down the path and see a ride, hop in. Can't decide between 2 rides, do them both. We travel in the summer and I will tell you that my family of 4 can knock out 2 theme parks in a day and a half easy, and thats riding everything and most rides multiple times. The resorts that off this as a perk are the Hard rock, Portifino Bay and Royal Pacific. I've stayed at HR and RP and I liked HR just for the overall vibe.
Thanks for this info, very helpful.
As for the overall resort, UO is divided into 2 parks, Original Universal and Islands of Adventure (they consider their water park a full 3rd gate, but I think thats a stretch). The Harry Potter stuff is in both parks and they were very smart b/c it almost makes you require a park hopper pass (lets you go back and forth between the 2 parks at will). They made a Hogwarts express train that is a fun ride, but it is also acts as a tram between the 2 parks and you physically have to check out of one and into the other if you are going to ride it.
The 2 park entrances are basically right next to each other. So no need for buses or anything else to go between them. There is a waterway that runs through the resort with boats to ride which are pretty convenient. Also, there is City Walk which is their entertainment and shopping district right across the water from the entrances. You don't need to make any reservations for these restaurants beforehand.
We can talk specific dining and attractions later as you don't really need to do any major pre-planning for UO.
Be aware that their Halloween Horror nights start Sept 10 and they close the main park down early for those special ticket parties. It might work in your favor b/c HHN are pretty fun and your kids might enjoy it, but just want to let you know that. Also, WDW does their Halloween parties on select nights starting in august and close the Magic Kingdom down for them. They are not nearly as scary as OU's, but at least at WDW you have 3 other parks you can visit if you are not attending it.
Thanks for the info, dates are likely 8/29-9/5
My last point is this, if you feel like things are overwhelming, you could consider hiring a Disney Travel agent. They will book everything you need—resorts, tickets, dining, etc, give you direct advice and really hold your hand, and the best part is there is absolutely no cost to you. Disney and OU pay them their commission, so there is nothing you need to worry about. I can gladly recommend a few for you.
@unckeyherb used one of my guys for his 1st trip and had a great experience.
This may be an option. My wife is a former Travel Agent and has some friends that still are.
Please feel free to ask any other questions or if you need more precise info on things, let us know. Lots of good peeps on this thread.
