Stay at Cabana Bay or Disney? Family of 6

Schfam2018

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
We are booking a trip for our family of 6 the second week of December. DS is 18, DS is 16, DD's are both 14. We have never been to Disney and wanted to spend four days at Disney and three at Universal. Wondering instead of staying on property at Disney for the whole 7 days if we should split between Cabana Bay and a Disney hotel? The Disney hotel, dining plan and tickets right now is around $9,000 not including airfare. If we stay split time between the two it will save around $1,000. Or if we should just stay at Cabana Bay the whole 7 days? My teenagers like a water slide in the pool area and hot tubs and the hotel we would stay at in Disney does not have one. Looking pictures of the pool online I think my kids would enjoy Cabana Bay more. Looking for some insight. TIA
 
Some of your solutions have confusing answers. We think onsite at Uni with teens if sooo fun. They can go off on their own with no concerns. You are allowed to pool hop to all resorts at Uni. My kids just LOVE that. The slide at CB is not much fun, but the one at Portofino is awesome. We also like the price of Cabana Bay rooms (even if you get 2 for a family of 6).

However, if you do not stay at a WDW resort, you will not have access to getting FP+ sooner. But driving from Uni to WDW each morning, will take 40-45 mins, so the teens will not like getting up so early. I can't imaging the price of two rooms in WDW either. We stay off-site due to this.

All of these reasons are why we no longer do split stays and decide to focus entire vacations either at WDW or Uni.
 
I'm in the minority on my answer but I stay at both of the park hotels.

I start with Disney and stay on site then relocate to Universal hotels and stay there for doing their parks.
It saves me transportation time and costs of travel back and forth daily if I was only at one location for a hotel room.


I feel like I am having two different vacations...

I use car service from MCO to disney hotel to universal hotels then back to MCO.

I find it cheaper to do that then to cover a car rental and hotel car parking fees.
 
I would do a split stay. It's a pretty good distance between the two parks and that much back and forth seems exhausting to me. I'd stay at Disney for the Disney days and switch over to the Universal hotel when you plan to be there.
 


Disney just dropped free dining this morning. Could save you a lot, but right now their site is a hot mess, too many people trying to change things and book things.
 
Hi I agree with doing a spit stay if you can afford two different parks. I like being at each location for resorts in regards to parks. It feels so much more relaxing. We have done this twice. We usually did Universal first then Disney but if I did a split stay again I would do Disney first and Universal second. Universal is a much more laid back vacation.

We love Cabana Bay and have stayed there twice. The lazy river is really cool and I love the atmosphere around the resort.

Enjoy your trip!
 
Last October we stayed at Cabana Bay and drove over to Disney each morning for four days then spent two days at Universal. Not too bad. We did have our car though since we had driven down. Loved Cabana Bay and it saved us a lot! You would need a car for best results and you do have to factor in parking at Disney. So maybe see what is cheaper - a split stay like many have suggested or to rent a car and stay at Cabana Bay. Staying on Disney property does have perks such as early entry hours or late night hours. A split stay might work best for you. I can tell you we loved doing Disney first then going to Universal. Ending the vacation at Universal was so stress free. No booking fast passes or ADRs. Kind of a relief and so laid back for the end of the trip.
 


I would do the split. That way, you can get the early FP window at Disney, and you won't have to worry about driving over every morning. Plus, if one of your kids doesn't want to go to a park at the same time you do, they can always catch a disney bus over to meet you later.
 
I'd do the split stay. Much easier! We've stayed at UO while visiting a Disney park for a day and I don't mind the drive. But for a few days, I'd rather be on property.
 
That’s exactly what we’re doing in July/August.
4 days at wdw (pop) than 3 at UO (rpr). It definitely is more costly doing a split vacation but I don’t know when we’ll be back so worth it. The 60 day fp+ window at wdw and the unlimited ep at UO worth it to us.
 
Split. We, party of 5, stayed on property, Disney Fort Wilderness Campground, in a cabin that sleeps 6. We stayed for 6 nights then checked into a family suite at Cabana Bay for 4 nights. Have stayed at Cabana Bay 3 times now. Love the place. Staying on property is the only way to go for us. Let Disney do the driving to and from the parks. Just sit back and enjoy the ride, whether it's a boat, monorail or bus.
We try to go to either Disney World and or Universal each year. If you have any questions, real free to reach out.

Don't worry. What ever you choose, will be an experience to remember.
 

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