Pre-Trip WDW/Universal Joint Trip for 5 Adults - Welcoming Feedback

Hello everyone! I originally posted this in "Trip Planning," but meant to post it in "Trip Reports." My bad.

I'm so excited to be planning a joint WDW and Universal Orlando trip over June 26th - July 2nd. I've been to WDW many, many times, but my family and I have not been to a Universal park in over a decade. I am open to any feedback or tips you have regarding my proposed plans! Nothing is booked yet, but we will be booking before any deadlines like the 60-day dining window.

Our party will consist of myself (24M) and four of my family members all around their 50s. Myself and two family members will stay in one room while the two others will stay in a separate room. We plan to focus on enjoying mainly adult activities like enjoying the resort, drinking around the world, and riding a select number of rides that we really want to do.

We are getting a 3 Day, 1 Park a Day WDW ticket, hitting HS, Epcot, and MK. We plan on getting Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and likely Individual Lightning Lanes for all 3 WDW days. For Universal, we will have 1 Park-to-Park IoA and Studios day, and one Epic Universe Day (so excited!!). I do not think we will need Express for either of our Universal days as we won’t want to ride every ride.

Thursday, June 26th: Check-In to Disney's Coronado Springs in a Village Room

• I’m flying into MCO early in the morning. Other family members are driving in.
• Enjoy the resort upon arrival. Maybe head to Typhoon Lagoon and/or Disney Springs.

Friday, June 27th: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• Ropedrop RotR and/or purchase Individual Lightning Lane, book first fast pass for Mickey and Minnie’s OR Millenium Falcon.
• Must-Dos: Rockin’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Tower, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Oga’s Cantina
• Everything else would be a plus. But, I’d prioritize Millennium Falcon, Slinky Dog Dash, and Toy Story Mania.
• I’m thinking about the Hollywood Brown Derby for lunch or dinner. But it looks expensive…any other recommendations for dine-in beside Sci-Fi Drive-In?

Saturday, June 28th: EPCOT

• Ropedrop Guardians of the Galaxy and/or purchase ILL, book first fast pass for Remys.
• Must-Dos: Spaceship Earth, Remy’s, Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, Soarin’, Living with the Land (EPCOT is my favorite park, so everything is pretty much a must-do.)
• Dining: New Spaceship Earth Lounge, Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel, Drinking around the World

Sunday, June 29th: Universal’s Islands of Adventure

• Ropedrop Hagrid’s and prioritize Wizarding World above all else across the two parks.
• Must-Dos: Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Incredible Hulk Coaster, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Jurassic Park River Adventure,
• Dining: Three Broomsticks, Hog’s Head, Green Eggs and Ham Cafe
• If we have time…
  • Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Hogwarts Express: Hogsmeade Station

Sunday, June 29th: Universal Studios

• No ropedrop as we will start in Islands of Adventure.
• Must-Dos: Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Hogwarts Express: King's Cross Station, Revenge of the Mummy, E.T. Adventure
• Dining: Leaky Cauldron - Quick Service British Food + Bar
• Shopping: Ollivander's Wand Shop
• If we have time…
  • Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, The Simpsons Ride, MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack!

Monday, June 30th: Epic Universe

• Ropedrop Battle at the Ministry (Virtual Queue?). If you can't ropedrop Battle at the Ministry, I'd ropedrop either Stardust Racers or Monsters Unchained. This park plan is definitely subject to change as we will see how operations run once the park opens on and after May 22nd.
• Must-Dos: As much as we can…, Stardust Racers, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, Le Cirque Arcanus, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Mine-Cart Madness, Curse of the Werewolf, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, Hiccup's Wing Gliders
• Dining: Bar Moonshine, The Burning Blade Tavern, Pizza Moon
• If we have time…
  • Yoshi's Adventure, Donkey Kong Meet and Greet, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Fyre Drill, The Untrainable Dragon

Tuesday, July 1st: Magic Kingdom

• Ropedrop TRON Lightcycle Run, book first fast pass for Tiana’s OR Space Mountain.
• Must-Dos: Pirates, Haunted Mansion, PeopleMover, Space Mountain, Tiana’s
• Dining: Be Our Guest for Dinner (maybe), Pinocchio Flatbreads for Lunch…any other recommendations?
• If we have time…
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Buzz Lightyear, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Winnie the Pooh

Wednesday, July 2nd: Check-Out Day

• Enjoy the last moments at Coronado Springs.
• If I book a late night flight like 9pm…I’m wondering if I could do another day in Epic Universe. If I did, any ideas on where I could store luggage for the day?

Thanks for any feedback you provide! Look forward to booking this trip soon.

 

[WonderWab]

my bad. I have an AP.

My math is off then. I think the AP w/ hotel discount rate would be about $150 more than your current plan.
(Though you could offset a portion of that with the 10% dining and merchandise discount.)

What we have nailed it down to is four options. These options only account for the room for 3 of us and tickets for 3 of us. My aunt and her boyfriend are buying their tickets and lodging separately anyways.

Options with Universal Express Hotel Deal (Ticket prices included)

• Total: $5,134 (1 Night at Royal Pacific, 5 at Coronado Springs)
• Total: $4,709 (1 Night at RP, 5 at All-Star Sports)

Option without Express Hack

• Total: $4,429 for 6 Nights at Coronado Springs
• Total: $3,913 for 6 Nights at All-Star Sports

The jump from $4,429 to $5,134 still feels rough for just one day of usable Express (for 5 people) and early park entry. For now, we are leaning towards the $4,429 option. We could do the All-Star for 5 nights, but we are prioritizing nicer resort (Coronado instead of All-Stars) over one day of express...I'll keep you updated what we decide! Need to think about it more! It's a tough call.

 

[Zipadeelady]

What we have nailed it down to is four options. These options only account for the room for 3 of us and tickets for 3 of us. My aunt and her boyfriend are buying their tickets and lodging separately anyways.

Options with Universal Express Hotel Deal (Ticket prices included)

• Total: $5,134 (1 Night at Royal Pacific, 5 at Coronado Springs)
• Total: $4,709 (1 Night at RP, 5 at All-Star Sports)

Option without Express Hack

• Total: $4,429 for 6 Nights at Coronado Springs
• Total: $3,913 for 6 Nights at All-Star Sports

The jump from $4,429 to $5,134 still feels rough for just one day of usable Express (for 5 people) and early park entry. For now, we are leaning towards the $4,429 option. We could do the All-Star for 5 nights, but we are prioritizing nicer resort (Coronado instead of All-Stars) over one day of express...I'll keep you updated what we decide! Need to think about it more! It's a tough call.

My only input would be if they aren't theme park enthusiasts, and with them being in their 50s (which I am, so I get it), it will be more exhausting for them than they realize, and the express deal will be well worth it for them. We want them to love it and not just remember tons of crowds and long lines.

 

[erstwo]

My only input would be if they aren't theme park enthusiasts, and with them being in their 50s (which I am, so I get it), it will be more exhausting for them than they realize, and the express deal will be well worth it for them. We want them to love it and not just remember tons of crowds and long lines.

I’ll second this. And I’ll say that Express Pass (which we got by staying at Royal Pacific) made it feel like we were on our own VIP tour. No waits ever.
And so easy to walk out of the park and eat at City Walk, go back to our room to rest, etc.

 

[WonderWab]

Resort and WDW dining reservations booked!

We decided to stick with a 6-night stay at Coronado, opting not to do a night at Universal for Express passes. We are still considering Express Pass, but we will make that decision a bit later on.

In terms of dining, here is what we have reserved so far...

Thursday (Arrival Day): Dinner at Sanaa at 6:55pm at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
As we are passing on Animal Kingdom this trip, we figured a dinner at Animal Kingdom lodge can act in its place. None of my party has ate here before, so we are excited to check it out. Booked an hour or so before sunset, so hopefully the animals will be fairly active.

Friday (DHS): Oga's Cantina at 10:45am for Drinks; Sci-Fi Dine-In at 1:55pm for Lunch
With an adults-only group, we plan to ropedrop DHS, then hit Oga's after 2-3 rides I think we can ride beforehand. Should be a good chance to cool off and grab a snack if anyone is hungry. I plan to get a breakfast wrap from Ronto Roasters before or after.
For Sci-Fi, we plan to eat there for lunch, head back to Coronado for a break from about 3:15pm to 5:30pm or 6pm, then come back into the park for its last few closing hours. For dinner, we will likely just have quick service at DHS at night, or eat back at the hotel later on in the evening.

Saturday (EPCOT): Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel at 7:45pm
This should line us up well to see Harmonious from the restaurant. Just have to hope we will get a good table. I also wanted to book Space 220 lounge, but that never seems available, so hopefully I will find a time to book eventually. Otherwise, I will absolutely be booking us a slot for GEO-82 when reservations open on May 6th. For lunch, we plan to snack and drink around the world, so we will find food at one of the pavilions.

Sunday and Monday: Not booking any dining at Universal parks. Will do quick service only.

Tuesday (MK): Dinner at The Plaza Restaurant at 5:00pm
Excited to check this place out. No one in our party has ate here before. We were between Plaza, Tony's, or Skipper Canteen. I haven't been to Tony's in ages. We went to Skipper Canteen back in 2021, and I personally found the food to be fairly unimpressive.

Let me know your thoughts!

P.S. I did book an additional one-day ticket to Epic on our last day. So, I'm excited to spend an extra day at Epic before flying out at 9:55pm!

 

[yensid1967]

I didn't read your day by day schedule, but just gonna add some thoughts...
- You have been to WDW many times, so for that I would say PRIOROTIZE your must do's and rope drop the most popular rides first. Believe it or not, watching My DIsney Experience, TRON is the most popular followed by Peter Pan's Flight. Go on the app and check the wait times daily for a few days to get a good sense of what's really happening at WDW parks.
Universal Parks...since you won't be riding everything, I would try to take a park out of the equation to save a little money. We are doing this with our trip next year...we ARE NOT going to WDW AT ALL! Focusing on Universal IOA and Epic U...we will be doing WILD FLORIDA Safari, Airboats and ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS(sloths, porcupines, capybaras and lemurs) and Sea World. We WERE gonna do MNSSHP, but decided against it because of the price increases every year! So, this trip Disney is not in the picture...not only this, but Disney has known for over 5 yrs that EPIC U was coming and did nothing and now they will suffer for their actions...which I hope really does hurt them with all the stupid decisions the executives have been making.
But I digress, PRIORITIZE and then enjoy, try to save money where you can. IMO, Disney does not deserve my money when they are not making plans to counteract EPIC U guests draw that will hurt their attendance.
P.S.
If you watch My DIsney Experience app wait times daily, you will see that Disney IS NOT TELLING THE TRUTH about the attendance levels!