How many Days Disney vs Universal

[MattH20]

Hi, we've decided to split our stay this year between disney and universal (we figured there remains a lot closed at disney and the saving per day for hotels at universal basically pays for the additional tickets required).

We arrive in August with a 5 (nearly 6) yr old and an 8 yr old and are staying for 16 nights. Currently have 4 nights booked at Universal to kick off the holiday. Any thoughts on if we should extend the universal stay or what a good balance is?

 

[Rob562]

Four days in the Universal parks should be fine. If you're doing Volcano Bay you could possibly add an additional day at Uni for that.

-Rob

 

[Figgy1]

Four days in the Universal parks should be fine. If you're doing Volcano Bay you could possibly add an additional day at Uni for that.

-Rob

^^^^ This. If you had older kids I'd say extend a day or 2 but that sounds like a good balance with younger kids without VB. I'd add one night if going to VB. I'd also add starting at UNI is smarter with younger kids

 

[esskay]

Yep 4-5 days tops for Uni, you'll get all of it done with time to spare that way. The parks are great but theres not enough there to take you beyond 2 days per park + volcano bay. Disney on the other hand is obviously much larger and spread out and is more geared up towards spreading things out over a longer period of time.

Dont forget though that your tickets to uni are likely 14 days so you can always pop back over for a day at volcano bay if you end up feeling (like many do) that WDW's water parks are a bit naff!

 

[Weather_Lady]

Our last trip was 4 nights (and 3.5 days) at Universal, and 4 nights (and 4.5 days) at WDW. It was a pretty perfect split. With a trip as long as yours, it's up to you if you want to extend your time at Universal, but you should be able to see and do just about everything during your 4 night stay there.

I will add that we had "Unlimited Express Pass" at Universal by staying at a premier onsite hotel, so we could really take our time, sleep in, and enjoy every single attraction in the two main parks at our own pace (we didn't visit Volcano Bay, although there was time for us to do so, had we wanted). We spent a full day each at Universal and IoA, then spent another day revisiting our favorite attractions in both parks, enjoyed some great meals at CityWalk (now there's also an escape room there we'd love to try) and my daughter and I devoted an evening to riding in the Mardi Gras parade atop the crocodile float, and throwing beads! (We were annual passholders at the time, and signing up to do that was a perk of membership.) It was a great trip and just the right amount of time for us.

 

[JIMINYCR]

As others have stated your 4 days should be enough. We’ve done all both Uni parks, riding multiple times on our favorite things in 2 days and been satisfied. There are things you may decide to skip over that aren’t popular to you and the kids. The only warning is if you find the crowds exceptionally buzy and that keeps you from enjoying all that you want then you might grab another day. I’d still give Dis the majority of my days and also go visit some of the popular sites around Orlando that are worth doing.

 

[Eric Graham]

We just stayed at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and had an awesome time. 4 days was plenty for us. The gelato was awesome as well!

 

[Eric Graham]

Overused modifier awesome, but oh well =)