grantmeawish Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I'm really a fly by the seat of your pants type person when it comes to vacations. Would be crazy to do this for a Disney trip? We would go this summer and stay off site at a Vrbo home rental to save money. We only want to go to the magic kingdom one day and then visit the two universal parks (kids are crazy about Harry potter). I don't want to blow the bank. We are fine to eat a few meals out but will cook most of the time. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 We are fly by the seats of your pants types and just literally got back from a vacation that included Disney land yesterday and have done Disney world a number of times (we have relatives in Florida, one who is a Disney employee, DH and I actually aren't huge Disney lovers). A few things I would recommend. One - try to book your travel at non peak times and get there are park opening and head RIGHT to the areas you want to do. At Universal RUN to HP world (that was our absolutely favorite theme park thing in Florida. Two - look into fast pass strategies if there are particular rides you really want to get on. At Disney, you may need to RUN to get a fast pass. I want to write Disney some serious hate mail for the way fast passes work. Sorry Disney - for close to $100 a person, we should be able to get on rides once without needing to have a PhD is Disney fast pass strategies or waiting for hours on end. We waited in a line for 2 hours to get on a popular ride one day and I was ready to pop. Three - for your meal outings, there can be advantages to selecting to do a nice meal at Disney in terms of priority seating for shows, character meetings, etc, so consider and look into that. If you go in the summer it will be hot and it will be crowded. I personally wouldn't do it in the summer, but I'm in the upper midwest and do not love hot and humid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 WRT Disney, if you don't care what you hit, if you're fine with going on whatever rides have short lines (People Mover! Love that thing, and there's never a line ;)) and whatever restaurants aren't crowded (we did the Norwegian restaurant totally impromptu one time because we were by it and it wasn't crowded and it was one of the most memorable parts of that trip), then fly by the seat of your pants works great - we've done that for day trips. Well, we planned a little, in that we had one popular ride we wanted to do and so we ran there first, and then we hung around that section of the park and did all the less popular rides. But if you want to do particular rides or shows or restaurants, planning ahead allows you to make reservations and think about where everything is in the park and the best order to hit them (heck, which park to hit in the first place - hopping parks takes time, plus getting a park hopper pass costs more - for one day it's kinda overkill unless you really want to hit rides in multiple parks, and that would take planning if you don't want to waste time.) For our upcoming multi-day trip, we're planning around what restaurants and shows we want to do (you can make reservations 180 days out, and for the most popular ones you really need to do it right around the 180 day mark). I don't like racing around the park, so we'll probably do whatever's got short lines in the general vicinity of our main restaurant for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 That sounds doable and reasonable. I agree with Wooly Socks. Head straight for HP World when you get to Universal (and try to get there when the park opens if you can). Once you've finished with that, you can take your time in the rest of both parks. Whatever park you go to first when you finish with HP, take the Hogwart's Express to the other one and see all you want in the other part of Harry Potter. In other words, do both sides of the Harry Potter area, then see the other stuff the parks have to offer (which is quite a lot). Keep in mind that even when the rest of Universal - either Studios or Islands - is not crowded, HP World will be crowded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 No more running for fastpasses at Disney--it's all electronic and done via smartphone well before your trip (60 days if you are staying onsite, 30 days offsite). This is not the case at Disneyland yet, they are still on the old fastpass system, but "fastpass plus" has been the status quo at WDW for close to a year, much to the chagrin of many. So since I haven't been to WDW since the new system started, I'll leave the advice of HOW to plan (because you most likely will need to do some advance planning--the parks are busier than ever, especially in the summer) to someone who has been there recently. But for Universal I think the advice of previous posters is correct--get there early and go straight to the HP attractions. There is A LOT to take in, so even if it is crowded just soak in the incredible world Universal has created. Your HP fans will love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 At Universal I would be in line before the park opens. You want to be at the front of the line since those that stay onsite are already in. They get an extra hour. Look online and know how to get there. Go straight to Hogwarts before the line gets worse. :D You can eat, drink butter beer and shop later. It thins out at closing time too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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