Where to start?

[DaniMoon]

I am a WDW vet, but feel completely lost when looking to plan a trip to Universal next summer.

Would 5 or even 7 days be too long to a trip? That's what we've been told? We are flying, so if I'm dropping $1000 on flights, I don't want to just pop down for a few days.

Looking to have 5 on the trip 3 adults, 2 kids (11 & 9). Which hotels should I look at? I'm thinking express pass will be something we would want.

Thanks, and sorry if this is redundant.

 

[macraven]

I stay onsite for two weeks each fall
I find plenty of things to occupy my time

My vacation style is not doing theme parks all day every day


Read the hotel stickies and find
What they can offer your family

Deluxe or value are the onsite options

You will learn about each of the hotels and would know which would be the better fit for your family
That is how I would start my planning for a darkside stay

 

[Nobody352]

id narrow it down to 5 days. If you went non stop you could do the two main parks in two days... if you take your time.. 3.. 4 days. Add in volcano bay and you can do 5 days.
take the money you save and instead of 7 days upgrade your hotel. If you pick one of the moderate to deluxe hotels you will get FREE express passes. I LOOOVVVEEEE portofino... and it comes with the added bonus of having a cool boat that takes you to city walk and the parks. I like something about every one of the hotels ive been to, so you cant really go wrong honestly. You can still get free express at royal pacific too and its a little less than Portofino...
If you DO end up doing 7 days, id take the extra time and do some random stuff on i-drive.. visit the outlet malls... maybe even drive or uber over to OLD TOWN in Kissimmee.

 

[sherlockmiles]

We do 4 days and find we can do everything in both parks without stressing, and our favorites multiple times. This excludes Volcano Bay. We also don't do table serve meals during the day.

There are some interesting dinner options - like the luau, to help fill time.

Maybe xfer to WDW for 3-4 days to fill the trip.

 

[agavegirl1]

My last trip to Orlando included 5 nights at Portofino Bay Hotel. My next one will be 7. There are plenty of things to do. I just tour at a more leisurely pace, take time to take in the atmosphere and spend time at my beautiful, luxurious resort. This trip I will likely head over to Sea World by shuttle one day and maybe shop a little more. I seldom shop. Now with Volcano Bay, I'm worried 7 nights won't be enough. LOL.

 

[sherlockmiles]

ooooh - there's a shuttle from Portofino to Sea World?? Tell me more. Is there one to Busch Gardens too?

 

[wookiebeck]

Same concept as the OP, if we are going to spend the time and energy to get to Orlando, I want to stay for a long time. We have done 7 and 10 days at Universal. We are never bored.

Staying on property this long allows you to check out all of the parks, all of the hotels and they encourage pool hopping at each resort, too. City Walk has restaurants, mini-golf, movie theater and more places to eat. Cabana Bay has the bowling alley.

We usually take a day trip to Disney Springs, buy some Zebra Domes at AK Lodge and finish it watching MK fireworks (I almost typed 'Wishes') from the boat dock at the TTC (arrive late enough and you don't have to pay for parking).

 

[Disney Ron]

We are huge Disney fans who last year decided to go to UO for 8 days and never stepped foot on WDW property. We didn't regret it, in fact, we are going back to UO this year for another 8 days and only going to WDW once to go to MNSSHP.

We believe UO is much more relaxed than WDW. No Fast Pass+ to book, no ADR's to make just take each day and go at your own pace. We have days where we didn't even enter a park and just relaxed at the pool all day.

We stayed at Royal Pacific last year and this year we'll be at Hard Rock and Express Pass just can't be beaten. We love being able to walk into a table service restaurant when we're ready to eat instead of having to book an ADR 6 months in advance and figure out when you'll want to eat 6 months later.

We can take our time through the parks without rushing since we are their for 8 days. In fact we loved UO so much we purchased AP's last year that we are renewing in 13 days.

If you want a more laid back take everything in vacation you won't be sorry with a week or more at UO.

 

[dixonsontour]

We do a week at Universal. My DD is 11 but we have been doing week long Universal trips with her age 8,9,10.

You need time to do the harry potter stuff properly. They are perfect age for the interactive wands. To do all the spells takes time but my daughter loves it the cast members who help with the spells are nice and speak to the kids, plus time for the shops. We also like decent amount of pool time.

August's plan is 7 nights onsite at Universal and MNSSHP. We also enjoy the minigolf at citywalk and enjoyed the bowling at cabana bay. We also liked the blue man group.

We love cabana bay, ideal for your kids age, my DD says it is the best hotel ever. We are however trying Royal pacific for express this August.

2 of my trip reports are on the trip reports section on here, Oct 14 when we did 7 nights and Oct 15 when we did 10 nights.

 

[scoopmorgan]

We are going for five days, and I thought we'd grow bored. The more I discover, I realize we could have easily filled several more days. Stored that info for next trip. Take your time and enjoy yourselves.

 

[Parker Clan]

I agree with PP that Universal is much more laid back! We keep adding days to our stay every year because it's so enjoyable!!

 

[GoldmanTrust]

I did two weeks off site last fall. Coming back again this fall and staying on site.

I'm still finding out things we didn't do in our last visit, even though we went to the parks almost every day of our vacation.

We didn't do express passes (wasn't that busy during September last year at least). If it will be busy this time around we will just buy them while there (we stay at CB).

During the summer time you'd probably need EP though.

Universal is the best. Can't wait to get back. Hope you enjoy your time!

 

[bchbetha]

It's a whole lot cheaper to just commit to one brand of parks. A few days at Universal and a few days at Disney would be very costly. But adding several days to one park is so cheap. There's so much to do between the parks, resorts (you're allowed to pool hop!) and CityWalk that you could easily fill a week and have a fun, relaxing vacation.

 

[National_Parks_Guy]

A good hotel is the hard Rock, in my opinion. Close to the parks and good for family's if memory serves me correct.

 

[Disneymom2kiddos]

We recently did 8 days at RPR, and it was a perfect mix of park days and relaxing.

 

[RalphinSC]

I've been sixteen days so far this year and there is still so much I haven't done yet!

My advice is to book at a place like Cabana Bay for a week and tour in a more relaxed style. Hit the parks for half days. Enjoy the awesome pools. Hit Volcano Bay for a morning or two. There's so much to do and you can pretty much just wake up in the morning or decide at bed at night just where you want to go the next day. No planning stress involved.

 

[MAHKL]

I think it depends on what you want from vacation. If it's all about the theme parks, then I think 5-7 days is probably too long. But if you are like us, it's a perfect length. We stayed 7 days at HRH two years ago and will stay 8 days at RPR this year. (We loved HRH; just trying something different this time for the sake of being different.) We like that we can be deposited at the resort with no car and just hang out for a week without having to plan anything other than the logistics of getting back and forth to the airport. Our days and nights involve randomly coming and going from the parks, eating a lot (selecting places to eat spontaneously), hanging around the hotel and pool and wandering around City Walk. We never leave the resort. We like the deluxe hotels because the express pass means we don't have to plan the coming and going from the parks--we just hop over when we feel like it and don't worry about crowds or lines. Our boys are a bit older than your kids (13, 17) so we also get the benefit of not having to do everything together and so we all just figure out what we want to do as the week goes. Your kids aren't there yet but they are the perfect age for the theme parks. If you are looking for a self-contained relaxing trip that does not require a lot of planning and all-theme-park-all-the-time, I think you would really enjoy 5-7 days at Universal. On the other hand, if all you would intend to do is go to the theme parks all day every day, I think you would likely find that to be too long.

 

[schumigirl]

I don't think you'd be bored with that amount of time.

There's so much to do between the parks and resorts with Citywalk too.

We always have a car but have a longer stay every year, we like to get around, away from the resort too.

As for EP......yes.......we wouldn't be without it. Last year even on quieter days in September we saw the queues become quite long........over 100 minutes for Despicable Me most days........with EP we never waited longer than 10 minutes for DM. No way would I wait those times......

As for which hotel.......they are all family friendly.......have a look at the hotel images and choose the resort that feels right for your family.

RPR is closest to IOA, HRH is closest to The Studios and Portofino is only slightly further away. It's still very walkable. And of course you have the boats if you desire. Both are lovely ways to get to the parks.