How many days for Universal Florida?

[TwinFoxes]

I'm noodling an Orlando vacay next year. We are huge Disney fans, but the kids and I really want to check out Harry Potter at Universal. How many days are ideal? We'd probably stay at a Universal hotel while there, and then switch to a Disney hotel. (or the other way around, start at WDW and switch to Universal.) We have never been to Universal, so everything will be new to us.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Start with Disney because Universal will be a lot more relaxing- you'll end the trip a bit more refreshed.

We had 3 days and I think it was great. We had park to park tickets and just bounced around repeatedly. Day one was mostly HP stuff but we explored other parts too. If you get interactive wands + a list of all the "hidden details" (talking mirror, animated snake, Kreacher...) you can happily spend a good while simply looking around let alone riding.

With express passes you might knock off a lot of rides in short order but then you can actually enjoy the parks plus your hotel.

Add a day if you want to try Volcano Bay.

[KrisM]

Start with Disney because Universal will be a lot more relaxing- you'll end the trip a bit more refreshed.

We had 3 days and I think it was great. We had park to park tickets and just bounced around repeatedly. Day one was mostly HP stuff but we explored other parts too. If you get interactive wands + a list of all the "hidden details" (talking mirror, animated snake, Kreacher...) you can happily spend a good while simply looking around let alone riding.

With express passes you might knock off a lot of rides in short order but then you can actually enjoy the parks plus your hotel.

Add a day if you want to try Volcano Bay.

I agree. We did Disney first and it's pretty stressful in a lot of ways. Universal was so much more low key, relaxing, and therefore fun. Volcano bay is great, but that is the one place you need to be there before it opens. We got tons done before 11 or so and then had a fun time in the active river.

We did have the Express Pass and it's completely worth staying onsite for that.

[nfceagles]

Start with Disney because Universal will be a lot more relaxing- you'll end the trip a bit more refreshed.

We had 3 days and I think it was great. We had park to park tickets and just bounced around repeatedly. Day one was mostly HP stuff but we explored other parts too. If you get interactive wands + a list of all the "hidden details" (talking mirror, animated snake, Kreacher...) you can happily spend a good while simply looking around let alone riding.

With express passes you might knock off a lot of rides in short order but then you can actually enjoy the parks plus your hotel.

Add a day if you want to try Volcano Bay.

Absolutely agree. 3 days is perfect for enjoying the parks, and City Walk, and the hotel at a nice pace. And definitely do Universal after Disney. It will feel like a relaxing vacation after Disney. I’ve never done the water park so no advice there.


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[smilequeen]

The early admission and express pass were worth staying on site for. I’d say 2-3 days. We stayed at Portofino Bay both times. The second time we had the Despicable Me suite. My kids were young enough to think it was awesome.

[TwinFoxes]

The early admission and express pass were worth staying on site for. I’d say 2-3 days. We stayed at Portofino Bay both times. The second time we had the Despicable Me suite. My kids were young enough to think it was awesome.

We definitely want to stay on property. How is the hotel themeing, aside from the Despicable Me suite?

[georgiegirl]

We’ve always done two days. It was enough time. We are going again over spring break and doing 2.25 days. Currently there’s a promotion where you get two free days when you purchase a 2 days pass. We just booked Loews Royal Pacific for two nights so we can get the express passes. Then we will do the last 4 days at Disney.


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[KrisM]

We stayed at Portofino Bay. It was okay. The room was big enough for the 5 of us, including a rollaway. The bathroom was enormous. It had a shower and a tub in it. The only real plus to that was we could leave our swimsuits to dry over the tub and still use the shower.

But, I thought the resort was really spread out and confusing. We ended up finding short-cuts from our room to the boat launch, but there are no signs telling you to go that way. We just figured it out from looking around that we could cut up by one of the restaurants and skip going through the lobby.

There wasn't a place to buy a drink - bottle of water, juice, etc, near the room. There was a little store well past the lobby, but it was quite the walk to get there and back.

If we were to go back to Universal, I would try some place else.

[nfceagles]

I’ve stayed at Royal Pacific and Hard Rock. Royal Pacific is usually the cheapest and it was fine, but I liked Hard Rock better. I do t think you can go wrong either of those or Portofino.


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[IansMom]

I think 3 days is ideal. We didn’t stay onsite but we valet parked each day which worked well for us.