Is it better if ??

[Erik the Red]

I'm doing a Sunday to Sunday 7 day trip. Staying at Pop Century.

I want to do 5 days at Disney and 2 days at Universal.

Is it better to do Universal first (sun-mon) ? Where i'll have better odds on getting fastpass/dining/tour reservations at Disney for later in the week?

OR

Is it better to do Disney first ? Where the crowds shouldn't be as bad (sun-thu) but i'll have worse odds getting fastpass/dining/tour reservations?

Thanks!

 

[DisneyDaver]

What time of year? Also, you didn't ask this, but did you consider staying on-site at Universal for your first (or last) 2 nights? There are some perks (varies by Universal site as to which get early Potter admission and which get early Potter admission plus free express passes) to staying on-site and you will lose some time driving from WDW to Universal (and back) each of your Universal days.

 

[Erik the Red]

I’ll be coming on the first week of October.

I thought about staying at universal but I’d lose out on my free airport shuttle.

Plus the big thing for me is pushing back my FastPass dinner tour reservations at Disney I’ll have better odds scoring those the later in my trip I book then. If I stay at universal I’ll lose out and have to book some right at the 60 day mark.

The only perk I’d be missing out on is the one hour early entry. But I can’t see universal being that busy on the Monday. Worse comes to worse I can buy a fast pass.

Not to mention the pain of having to pack up. Check out. Transfer resorts Etc.

But again. I have no experience doing this which is why I wanted to pick your brains.

 

[DarthVader]

s it better to do Universal first (sun-mon) ? Where i'll have better odds on getting fastpass/dining/tour reservations at Disney for later in the week?

Not for nothing, but I was able to nail down my fastpasses in the early portion of the week, for hotly contested items, like FOP. I think the conventional wisdom is that you push the must have FPs to the end of the week which falls into the +10 of the 60+10 of what you're allowed to do while staying on property

For me, I would find it rather difficult to stay on property, and not visit any Disney parks for two days.
I would do a Universal on Sunday, Epcot/HS on Monday, Tuesday MK, and then Wednesday Universal. Then flesh out the rest of the week as you see fit.

 

[Tuvalu]

Being a solo traveler you’ll have a much easier time getting the ADRs and FPs you want for the early part of your vacation. Those “hard-to-get” fastpasses or dining reservations are for parties of 4-6 (or more) because of the same-time quantity needed (fastpasses) or larger table (ADR). Disney is able accommodate parties of 1 or 2 with less difficulty as they can fill in available space.

Disney parks are busy every day of the week and trying to pick the least crowded days is a crapshoot. Plan your trip in the order that makes sense to you and go have fun!

 

[Erik the Red]

Oh. Thanks so much !! I just assumed with toy story opening up and avatar , FP , tours and dining would be hard to get at the start of your trip (180 and 60).

I guess i was panicking when I’m reading all these insiders saying to book the harder ones at the end.

Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Weather_Lady]

To the extent my family's experience might be illustrative -- we're visiting Orlando on 4/28-5/6, spending 3 nights onsite at Universal, followed by 5 nights at WDW. The up-side of that split stay is that we get convenient transportation and onsite perks both places (plus Unlimited Express Pass at Universal, b/c we're staying at one of their higher-end resorts -- for half the cost of a Disney deluxe, in fact). The downside is that we'll have to pay for our transportation from the airport to our Universal hotel ($75 via private towncar including tip, or we could have gone with Uber/Lyft for closer to $50), and of course we will need to transfer to a different hotel mid-way through our trip.

FWIW, we didn't suffer from any disadvantage when it came to our WDW ADRs and FP+. Even as a party of four, we had absolutely no trouble getting everything we wanted, on the exact days and times we wanted, both in terms of meals (e.g., dinner at 'Ohana on our fourth night, Happily Ever After Dessert Party on our fifth night - we could even have booked dinner at Be Our Guest for any evening starting on day 2 or 3 if we had wanted, but we didn't care to) and FP+ (e.g., 7DMT on days 4 and 5, Flight of Passage on days 2 and 6). Obviously, YMMV, but I don't think you'll have quite as tough a time as you think, if you opt to do/stay at Universal first, especially so long as you're able to hop right on and make your ADRs and FP+ as soon as your windows for them open.

 

[JIMINYCR]

When we throw in Uni visits into our trips we usually add those days in the middle. Start off with a good dose of Disney then end with Disney days. We alway enjoy some aspects of Uni but always enjoy coming back to the Disney experience. Uni just never feels right. We defenitely see and feel the difference especially in the way w/c bound DW gets treated by park personnel.

 

[DisneyDaver]

I’ll be coming on the first week of October.

I thought about staying at universal but I’d lose out on my free airport shuttle.

Plus the big thing for me is pushing back my FastPass dinner tour reservations at Disney I’ll have better odds scoring those the later in my trip I book then. If I stay at universal I’ll lose out and have to book some right at the 60 day mark.

The only perk I’d be missing out on is the one hour early entry. But I can’t see universal being that busy on the Monday. Worse comes to worse I can buy a fast pass.

Not to mention the pain of having to pack up. Check out. Transfer resorts Etc.

But again. I have no experience doing this which is why I wanted to pick your brains.

A few more thoughts:

(1) Will you have a rental car? If not, the cost of a cab or Uber to go back and forth to Universal two days will most likely exceed the cost of a cab to Universal once plus a cab from Universal to the airport. I have done three trips where I split my stay between WDW and Universal. The cost of the cab was about $50 to get from WDW to Universal (or vice versa).

(2) Did you check which dates during your visit Universal will have Halloween Horror Nights? Halloween Horrow Nights is amazing for adults (not kids at all) unless you are too scared of haunted houses. I'm not even a big haunted house fan in general, but I loved HHN. If you are not interested in going to HHN, then I would try to schedule your Universal days on non-HHN days because the Studios park closes early (I want to say 5 pm) on days with HHN.

(3) If you are set on stating at WDW the entire time, I can understand why you would want to do Universal first to give you more flexibility with your fast passes.

(4) I actually have had a much different experience at Universal then that relayed by the previous poster. I love the Universal experience and for adults, I prefer Universal to WDW these days (that may change once TSL and SW:GE opens). With kids younger than 10, however, I prefer WDW over Universal.

 

[yensid67]

Not for nothing, but I was able to nail down my fastpasses in the early portion of the week, for hotly contested items, like FOP. I think the conventional wisdom is that you push the must have FPs to the end of the week which falls into the +10 of the 60+10 of what you're allowed to do while staying on property

For me, I would find it rather difficult to stay on property, and not visit any Disney parks for two days.
I would do a Universal on Sunday, Epcot/HS on Monday, Tuesday MK, and then Wednesday Universal. Then flesh out the rest of the week as you see fit.

I was going to suggest the same thing...break up your DISNEY WEEK with 2 days at Universal...that way you won't get tired of Disney...

7 Days...
Sunday...Animal Kingdom (FoP, River)
Monday...Epcot (Soarin, Mission Space)
Tuesday...Universal Studios
Wednesday...Magic Kingdom (7 Dwarfs, Space Mtn)
Thursday...Universal Islands of Adventure
Friday...1/2 Day Hollywood Studios, 1/2 Day Non Park (Dinner Show!?)
Saturday...Animal Kingdom (Safari, FotLK)[you can adjust if you get Hoppers, just spend 1/2 at Animal Kingdom and 1/2 at Epcot]
Sunday...Magic Kingdom

This is what I would do, but tweaked for your preferences. Animal and Magic is worth at least 1 full day...Magic is definitely worth a second day so you can do half the park each day! DHS I would only do half day because its not worth the money until things are done! Definitely find a dinner show to add to your week that is not Disney or Universal...Capone's(alcapones.com), Pirates, there are plenty others so a search! But my favorite is Capone's I have been there and its for adults(inuendos) children are admitted but realize they will be adult language!