I have a question and would like your opinion.

[JessicaR]

It's been quite a while since we last visited Disney. (sheesh sounds like a confession ) We are planning an early December trip back to Orlando. Since discovering Universal and their wonderful resorts its impossible for me to plan a trip and not include it. Over the past few weeks I have been trying to make some plans to split a stay between Disney/Universal. I am spoiled by the Loews hotels and do not want to stay at a Disney Value. I would consider (maybe) a moderate but honestly the rates are on par with Loews so why would I bother? We had planned to stay at Disney 4 days then move over to Universal for 3. The more I think about it the more I want to just stay the whole time at Universal. I was wondering if anyone stayed at Universal and traveled to Disney daily. I think this may be a bad idea for a few reasons. I like the feeling of onsite, the ease of going back to your room midday for a break. If we stay at Universal this is not gonna happen! I worry that we may scrap Disney or part of it if we arent staying there. I just cant for the life of me be happy with paying $$$ to stay inside Disney when I know what I can have at Universal hotels.

So would all you wonderful people please give me some suggestions! Would you just stay at Disney (value, moderate) then move over to Universal? Would you stay at Universal the whole time and make daily trips over to Disney? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I guess I'm worried if we dont stay at Disney and decide to travel there daily from Universal that we wont experience it the best way possible. Is this silly? HELP!

Thanks

 

[LynnB]

Have you considered staying at the Swan or Dolphin? The location can not be beat and they do offer Entertainment rates.

Here's a link to Dreams Unlimited site if you would like to check it out.
https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/dreamsres/index.htm * you can even check for ENT rates online.


( I split a stay between The Dolphin and RPR this past June - it was the best of both worlds!)

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

I think the Swan or Dolphin sounds like a great idea.

I really dislike not being onsite, I feel like I spend too much time traveling. Also, I like to go in the am, take a break, then go back to a different park a t night. But, like you, I would not want to stay at one of the All Stars. I've heard good things about Port Orleans, maybe that is a possibility. If I were you I would stay at Disney first, and Universal last, since it will feel like a step up.

That being said, we were at Disney last December (OKW), and there were not any lines to speak of - so that may make it easier for you. Good luck, and let us know what you decide.

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

Jessica I sent you a long and quick PM, but I hope it helps.

 

[gschmerl]

I was also going to suggest going through Dreams Unlimited and trying the Swan/Dolphin. Besides the entertainment rate they also have a teacher's rate, nurses rate, and government employee rate. I don't know if you qualify for any of those, but when I had the teacher rate it was lower than the Entertainment rate. If you book through Dreamsunlimited they will continue to look for discount rates and change your rate if a discount comes through.

 

[3for Me]

I agree with the previous posters, but also want to point out that if you decide to do a value or moderate instead, do this first THEN go to Universal where you will have a nicer room and FOTL priveledges. I would do this rather than the other way around, that way you have the most luxurious part of your trip to look forward to. Make any sense?

 

[AlexandNessa]

Hi Jessica! You've been so helpful to me, and I thought I'd chime in. I was lucky enough to have my BF treat me to a week at the Yacht Club on my 30th birthday. We loved that area -- and the Swan and Dolphin are right in the same location. They're not much on theming, if that's important to you, but they put you at an AWESOME location! There's mini-golf within walking distance. We loved taking a break from the Boardwalk one night. We had the most romantic walk over to mini-golf. Since we're competitive with one another, it was a great night!

We're both NBA fanatics, and went to Disney during NBA play-offs where both the Sixers and the Nets (my 2 fav teams) and the Lakers (BF's fave, since he's orignally from CA) were playing. So, we LOVED the ESPN bar. (PS that was the year the Lakers swept the Nets, bummer). We also LOVED Jelly Rolls -- went 4 times in one week.

We went down on a Saturday, and then my mom and my Aunt joined us on Tuesday night. They stayed at PORS. They said the grounds were beautiful and they loved it. They requested a room near the food court and were not disappointed. They loved that you could take a boat to the Market Place and Pleasure Island.

Mickeysavers.com was a big help to me and BF when we were planning our trip. Maybe they'll come out with some good "secret codes" during your visit so you can save the boku bucks.

I wish you the best!

 

[*Flower*]

Make that mousesavers.com............

 

[AlexandNessa]

Actually, both will work! If you type in mickeysavers.com, it will show you mousesavers.com. Either way!

 

[*Flower*]

I'd never heard of Mickeysavers.com........

Sorry!

 

[SpideyHulk24]

This feels weird. You are usually the one giving all the great advice. So of course we will chime in...
Anyway, if it were me I would totally stay at Universal and make the daily trips to WDW. However, if you want to have the same on site "feeling" than I would stay a couple of days on site as well, but as a previous post stated, I would do Disney first and then Universal....(save the best for last!!! )

I would check out Port Orleans Riverside or the Dolphin. Both great resorts and comparable in price, even though the Dolphin is deluxe. Have fun no matter what you do!

 

[Muushka]

As much as we enjoy USF, we must visit Disney in December (and stay on site). I can't imagine driving there, yet I have no problem when staying at WDW to drive over to USF! Go figure.

We own at DVC, so our rooms are pretty much set in stone months in advance. However, without DVC I would agree with others that Dixie Landings (or POR or whatever they call it now) would be a great choice, or Swan/Dolphin because their rates are so low.

 

[Muffy]

Jessica, I have just the opposite problem! We are spending 2 nights onsite at PBH and 16 nights at the Dolphin. We just cannot force ourselves to stay away from disney. This will be our fist time onsite at US so I just may be wishing for more time there?! I think you should definatly stay onsite at WDW. The Swan Dolphin have some great rates right now. You really can't beat the location. It is on the Boardwalk and close to Epcot and MGM. There are restaurants galore in the S/D vincinity. Sign up for a free membership at www.starwood.com and make sure your membership number is on your reservation. The S/D is great about giving comp upgrades to members.

PS, I sent you a PM with a PBH question.

Muffy

 

[JessicaR]

A great BIG Thank You to all that replied!! Some terrific ideas for me to ponder! I didnt think about the Swan/Dolphin and will be looking into those rates. I think this may be the way for us to go and of course will stay there before heading to Universal. (Have to end the trip right!) Thanks for suggesting that, 3for Me

Lynn, Thanks for the link and giving me the swan/dolphin idea!

gschmerl, I wish I was entitled to any of those rates but do not. Although I do have the EC so I will check that out!


AlexandNessa, I will look at mousesavers, I always forget about that! Thanks

SpideyHulk, the Port Orleans moderates always appealed to me so I will price that out too. Thanks!

FeeFee the PM helped and thank you!


Muushka, we are the same just in reverse! I guess its just a matter of what your used to. If I owned DVC I would do it that way too. I'm going to check out Dixie Landings or whatever they do call them both now!

Muffy, Take at least one more of those 16 nights and add it to Portofino, you will be happy you did! This way you can enjoy a whole day enjoying this resort. It is sprawling and beautiful with LOTS of great places to eat! Thank you for the link and I also agree swan/dolphin does seem the best way to go for us! I also answered your PM, hope it helped you!

Thanks again everyone for all your help, everyone here is so great about helping and offering opinions.

 

[torismom]

I am staying at OKW for 5 nights then meeting a friend and her children at HRH for 3 nights. We are not doing the universal parks
this time. We will be going back to MK on frfor MNSSHP. I could not get an ap rate at Disney for my dates and I am out of points. LOL HRH looks to be awesome and we plan on just hanging out. We are renting a cabana for saturday. I cannot wait.

If you compare price and amentities I really feel you will get more bang for the buck at Universal than a Disney Moderate.

We are looking forward to our stay and plan do hit us and IOA soon just not this trip.

 

[mark & sandra]

Hello JessicaR- We usually do a Disney trip twice a year, always staying on-site, bought the AP's, drive to Universal and SeaWorld but home is always Disney. Last year we did Disney, Port Orleans, for 2 days and then moved to HRH for the remainder of our vacation. On our 2nd trip last year, we used the HRH as home base, bought AP's , at 99.00 each thank you very much, visited Disney, our AP's were still good there and from now on we will be staying at a Universal Resort and "visiting" Disney. Once Disney started canceling perks like early entry and E-nights I decided that there must be another place to overpay for a room that gave me some perks. I tried Universal and I'm hooked. I've paid 109.00 for the AllStars during peak season,( to be fair I've also paid 49.00) so paying 125.00 for the HRH was a no brainer. Add the ambience of a Disney Deluxe resort, a 3 min. walk to the park and then the kicker, FOTL, now it's Universal's turn to keep my vacation dollars, at least until they start reducing perks and sending me elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, I still love visiting Disney and will continue to go there, but I could never wait over an hour for a ride again or stand around waiting for my fast pass to become usable. Now I spend my time at Disney doing the more mundane tasks of seeing the parks instead of just going on the rides.

 

[JessicaR]

torismom, sounds like a great way to just enjoy the resort! I hope you enjoy. We have been doing that lately as well and I could easily spend a few days just enjoying any of these properties.

mark & sandra, see now ya had to go and add my exact thoughts of late. I am so tempted to just book the whole trip staying at one of the universal properties but I just know I wont get over to Disney. My husband keeps saying and thats a bad thing, why? I'm holding out a while longer before making a decision since I cant get the rate I want at Disney yet. If I cant my mind will be made up! Thanks for adding your thoughts

 

[PattiPB]

Jessica you are so amazing! You are helpful to me even when you are asking for help!! LOL!!! Dec. 2004 is our next trip, and we are splitting time between UO and WDW.

I think you absolutely need to make time for WDW because it is the holidays! The parks are so lovely at that time of year (and empty!) so you need to make it a priority! I can't wait to experience the WDW holidays and Grinchmas---it is the perfect metaphor for the difference in the theme parks! LOL!!!

My current thoughts are to go off-site at WDW for 5 nights, then on-site at UO (of course!). My reasons for going off-site at WDW are to save money for the second half of the trip, and with the traditionally low crowds we won't really need the early entry. Also, with the traditionally short hours, we won't be leaving the parks for a mid-day break, anyway! Of course, my current thoughts may not last until I press "submit reply"! LOL!

Patti

 

[JessicaR]

Patti, glad I could be of some help!

I had been making myself a bit crazed lately trying to make a decision on what to do this December. Finally a couple of days ago I made one...I think Like you that could change before my deposit is due! We were going to split the stay offsite Disney and onsite Universal. Fot the same reasons you stated. Happily I received an email promo from Disney with a code for a deluxe at a great rate! So as of now were starting out at AKL and moving over to HRH to end it at our happiest place! I am so thrilled to experience the holidays at both and am really looking forward to it. Good Luck with your planning for next year and I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[mouseclick1]

It sounds like you ended up with the perfect combination; have a great trip!