Universal before or after Disney?

[Surfside]

We are headed to Orlando in January and want to add an Universal Day or 2 to our Disney trip. We will have 4 full days at Disney parks. Should we do Universal at the beginning or end? We have never been to Universal before and will have a car. Also is Universal and Disney too much at one time? We love WDW and just wanted to check out Universal.

 

[JillC LI]

On our last trip, we flew into Orlando, rented a car and drove straight to US that evening. Stayed onsite and had one day two-park passes for US where we got early entry the next day and free express passes for staying on property. Had a great day there, then drove to WDW that night where we stayed for the rest of the trip. Worked out great. You could do it in reverse instead, but we liked finishing our trip at WDW. I say definitely go for it!

 

[KLeigh]

We're actually doing a full day at UNI on day 3 of our 9 day WDW trip. We thought it would be a fun way to break up the trip a little bit, as day 5 is going to be our "no parks" day.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

That's not nearly enough time at Universal, nor is it enough time at WDW.

 

[KLeigh]

That's not nearly enough time at Universal, nor is it enough time at WDW.

Not nearly enough! But with WDW you take what you can get.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Not nearly enough! But with WDW you take what you can get.

Not you, your itinerary seems legit. I just think the OP is going to be exhausted and cranky trying to do six parks in six days.

 

[Surfside]

That's not nearly enough time at Universal, nor is it enough time at WDW.

I agree but the budget only allows so much. We have about 9 days including arrival and departure days. One day will be a pool/relax day.

 

[KLeigh]

Not you, your itinerary seems legit. I just think the OP is going to be exhausted and cranky trying to do six parks in six days.

Haha, sorry - meant that reply as a general response echoing your opinion.

 

[sxeensweet]

I agree but the budget only allows so much. We have about 9 days including arrival and departure days. One day will be a pool/relax day.

I personally would do all days at WDW if that's all you have and maybe get to US another time unless this is like a once in forever or a long time inbetween getting to go back like 5+ years. I can't imagine taking away time from WDW if I was only getting 4 days at WDW when I could get 6+. We have done US in the middle of a trip for a day or so but we still had at least 7-8 ++ at WDW when we did it that way.

 

[JIMINYCR]

When we do Uni during our WDW trip we always arrange for it to fall in the middle of our trip. That way we start off with Disney days and end with Disney days. Uni does have some wonderful attractions, but the feel of the park and the feel you will get from their staff will be completely different. I always like to return to Disney after a Uni day, and get back into the Disney glow.

 

[NHMouse]

Planning wise I would check on the crowds, also are you planning to get express pass at universal?

 

[Worldlover71]

I would suggest starting at Universal. As stated above, US has some wonderful attractions (the Harry Potter areas are amazing!) but the resort overall is far less magical than WDW and you definitely want to end on a high note.

 

[BAChicagoGal]

My vacation starts in 12 days, and we are staying 7 nights at Pop Century following 3 nights at Cabana Bay. I entertained doing it the opposite at first. However, originally we were using Magical Express, but now we are driving. Now that we are driving, I kinda wish we had flipped it the other way. Oh well, I plan on having a great time at all 4 Disney parks, and I can't wait for my first stay at Universal.

 

[Herdman]

When we do Uni during our WDW trip we always arrange for it to fall in the middle of our trip. That way we start off with Disney days and end with Disney days. Uni does have some wonderful attractions, but the feel of the park and the feel you will get from their staff will be completely different. I always like to return to Disney after a Uni day, and get back into the Disney glow.

This is exactly what we do!

 

[DManRightHere]

We are headed to Orlando in January and want to add an Universal Day or 2 to our Disney trip. We will have 4 full days at Disney parks. Should we do Universal at the beginning or end? We have never been to Universal before and will have a car. Also is Universal and Disney too much at one time? We love WDW and just wanted to check out Universal.

Universal is definitely awesome (especially if you like Harry Potter), but Magic Kingdom is always best for last.

 

[DisneyDaver]

I agree but the budget only allows so much. We have about 9 days including arrival and departure days. One day will be a pool/relax day.

I've done 4 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal a number of times. Very do-able. I would suggest spending 2 nights on-site at Universal either at the beginning or end of your trip.

 

[TXDisney]

When staying at my parents timeshare which if offsite and normally right bear WDW we do normally do 6 days WDW and 2 universal. But now that there's lil kids in the family now, there's not much to do at universal with real little kids like there is at WDW. So our last trip as a family we did all 8 days at WDW. Did I miss universal? Yes. But it just made sense to do WDW. We will do universal next trip though I'm sure.

 

[DisneyGirlNY]

2 years ago (exactly - this is the week we were there) we were in Orlando for 9 days. We started at Uni, stayed at Royal Pacific, spent 2 days, then moved over to WDW for the remainder of the trip. I would start at Uni - a different feel than WDW, not the "bubble" that Disney creates, but fun and manageable. Personally I liked doing it first, then immersing ourselves in Disney until it was time to go home.

 

[BrianV]

If you stay onsite at universal with free express passes, it makes it so much easier. In fact universal almost become relaxing knowing that you don't really need to wait on any lines except HP. For that reason, I might do second. Would be hard to go to wdw after having unlimited express pass.

 

[graphite1326]

When we do Uni during our WDW trip we always arrange for it to fall in the middle of our trip. That way we start off with Disney days and end with Disney days. Uni does have some wonderful attractions, but the feel of the park and the feel you will get from their staff will be completely different. I always like to return to Disney after a Uni day, and get back into the Disney glow.

On our last trip we did just that. And you are right, it was really nice getting back to that Disney "glow". Universal has more of an amusement park feel (I will get backlash from that statement). Where WDW just feels to have much more "class" for lack of a better word.