Do you visit other non-disney parks while staying in Disney?

[DarthVader]

The family and I are heading to Disneyworld this November (was december but the free meal plan changed that).

There is some interest in going to SeaWorld and Universal what is the best method to get there and back if you're not renting a car.

Personally, I think I'd rather spend most of my time in Disney but I think I'm getting out-voted.

 

[LAKid53]

Visit other parks while at the World? That's sacrilegious - just kidding.

On previous trips to the World, we went to the Dark Side (sorry, I'm getting psyched for our Star Wars Weekend visit in 13 days and everything is starting to come out Star Wars), but stayed at one of the Universal resorts - mainly so we could take the boat over to IOA and use Uni's version of Fast Pass. Other than driving or taking a taxi since you won't have a car, I wouldn't know. It is about a 20-25 minute drive to Universal and Disney does have printed directions to get there from WDW. They gave me an interesting look when I asked for them. One of the CMs in the resort lobby mentioned calling security......

I'm not familiar with Orlando's public transportation, but I don't think there is a shuttle service between the two resorts. You could always hijacked the Magical Express and demand the driver go to Universal. Wouldn't THAT be interesting when that bus showed up at the entrance.......

 

[DarthVader]

Somone mentioned busses. Personally, I'd be content to stay within the Disney properties. Even with discounts the price of the universal tickets are expensive. I'm looking at 500+ dollars for two day tickets for my family. On the flip side, its very inexpensive to add another day to my Disney tickets

 

[LAKid53]

Somone mentioned busses. Personally, I'd be content to stay within the Disney properties. Even with discounts the price of the universal tickets are expensive. I'm looking at 500+ dollars for two day tickets for my family. On the flip side, its very inexpensive to add another day to my Disney tickets

I noticed how expensive tickets for Uni have gotten. We had Florida resident seasonal passes two years ago (cost maybe $120) and now it is well over $200. In agreement, stay at the Mouse House. Unless the kids just have to see Potter.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

I usually stay for about 15 days and I usually go to universal for 3 days and then the rest for Disney it works out because I got a 10 day pass for Disney 3 day pass for universal or sometimes I'll go to SeaWorld just not this year

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think you have to look at the length of your trip and what you really want to do. i.e. are you looking for primarily a Disney vacation or a Central FL vacation?

We plan to head to Uni for 1 day next trip- and I still consider that a primarily Disney vacay, but I know once our girls get taller and can ride more at Uni, we'll be splitting it up a lot more. In fact, with the opening of Cabana Bay, I might even start considering splitting our stays. I know in my family's really early trips- back when I was a kid- they viewed it as more of a Central FL vacay and not just Disney, so we'd do a lot beyond WDW when we visited the area.

 

[Dwarful]

We have done this before. Once we rented a vehicle from the Car Care Center. The other time we took advantage of Town Car Services. The Town Car services was the easiest in my opinion. We selected the pick up time from the resort and the pick up time from the parks. We were even able to call a few hours before hand and change our park pick up time to better meet our needs. I honestly don't remember the cost, but it wasn't crazy and there was no parking fees. It was a very easy process. I wanted to be at the gate an hour early and I told them that so they recommended a time and it worked just fine. Good luck.

 

[nutsaboutdisneybelfast]

We travel from the Uk & always do a 2 or 3 week holiday. We always do universal Seaworld & Aquatica since it opened. We have paid for two weeks at a disney property for 2 weeks this year but I just recently also booked a room at Universal Royal Pacific for one night so that we can get early admission & express passes at Universal.There was not much price difference between booking a room & paying for the express passes so thought I would just stay at universal. We thought this might be a good idea in case Diagon Alley open & the park gets really busy.Also as your kids get older I think they appreciate Universal more.

 

[zurgandfriend]

We have in the past, some times it's a Disney only vacation other times we have split our stay between Disney and Universal.

 

[lunchbox1175]

Nope, never found a need to, why waste time and money going to another park when there is so much to do at WDW.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Uni & Disney are so different to me. I like them both in their own special way. Since we go during low season, we always find it easy to do everything we want in Disney and spend a day at Universal.
I think if you travel to Orlando often and don't venture outside of Disney at least once, you are missing out.

Honestly, last week, after using fastpass+, we arrived around 12 - 2pm and still manage to ride everything in EP, MK, and HS (except R'n'R & Tower of Terror because my DFi doesn't like either but we could have done them.) eat a table service dinner and be on the bus back at our hotel by 6:30.
FP+ worked too well for us LOL... We rode things multiple times and spent a ton of time wandering around doing nothing.

I think you should give UNI a chance and if you don't like it, then one & done!

 

[slappy magoo]

Just a random look, Quicksilver Tours in Orlando will pick up a max of 10 passengers in a van at any WDW hotel for a round trip ride to Universal for $100 and Sea World for $95. A little less for just a town car but it only handles 4 people max. I don't know how big your party is.

If you were talking about a single day off site I'd recommend this. There are possibly shuttle buses that would cost less but you'd be more on their schedule than theirs. But if you were thinking about being off site for a few days - maybe 2 or 3 for Universal and a day for Sea World - you could always rent a car at any point during the middle of your trip for the days you need, too. There are places on site where you can get rental cars and they'll pick you up and bring you to the car. So if you had a 10 day trip, you could still use Magical Express getting to and from the airport and then rent a car in the middle of the trip. I believe renting on-site will be more expensive, per day, then renting from the airport (and I think that's true in general, getting a rental car from ANY airport, where the companies keep hundreds of cars, is cheaper than a local franchise where selection is slimmer unless they order in advance and have it ready for you) but still probably cheaper than renting for the duration of your trip

 

[ShookieJones]

Our first 7 years we always stayed put. However the last 3 years (after the first Potter expansion) we decided we needed to take a couple of days to visit Universal.
I'm glad we did. It's not WDW, but it's as close as you can get and well worth the time.

We always rent a car. I like the freedom to come and go as we please and for a 150.00 bucks we get back that ten fold in time and peace of mind, so unfortunately I can't give you any tips on transportation other than...
RENT A CAR!!