Disneyworld / Universal Orlando
 

Planning a trip with the SO -- any tips? We're debating which is better, staying at the disney resort where there is after hours stuff or staying off resort since we are also going to be going to universal studios.

Be sure to swim in the Lagoon!

You should check out Busch Garden in Tampa if you like roller coasters.

My wife and I did 4.5 days at Disneyworld and 1 day at Universal.

To get the full experience, I would stay in a Disney property. We stayed at the Port Orleans - French Quarter. You'll get a wristband which you can have your credit card loaded on to, so you can make all your purchases on there (super convenient), plus your room key, and your Fastpasses. You get a free ride to and from the airport on Disney's Magic Express. There are also shuttles around the clock that take you to and from each of the Disney parks (there are 4, plus some water parks) and they are pretty far away from each other. The entire resort is HUGE. If you stay off resort, you'll need to catch a shuttle which for most hotels, leaves once a day in the morning and returns once a day at night. Google the WDW Prep School. It is a gold mine of info.

As for Universal, it is an amazing park (way better than Hollywood). There are a bunch of shuttle options that you can take from Disney to go (the WDW Prep School website has tips on that too). The Harry Potter stuff is awesome, and the roller coasters they have there are pretty high intensity too.

Good luck. We travel a lot and it was probably one of the best trips we've ever taken.

you think 10 days in Disneyland and another 10 in universal is a bit much or perfect...Hmmm

Unless you really like crowds, 10 days of DW is too much.
In April, we did 3 days of DW.
1 full day of Epcot
1 full day of Magic Kingdom
3/4 day at Animal Kingdom and 1/4 day at DW Hollywood studios.
AK closes early so that the staff can safely, under day light, escort the animals back into their pens. Check the website as it will tell you what the closing time is.

We missed a few attractions at HS because we got there late they those attractions closed early but it wasn't too much of a deal breaker for us.

Few things that we remembered. Carry as little as possible. The security bag checks going into the resorts can be pretty brutal.
Try to catch the first shuttle in if you want to hit up the rides as people do wait outside of the resort before the resort opens.
Use the Fastpass to get into the busier rides. Once your 3 rides are used up, you can go and register for more, 1 ride at a time.
Depending on the time you go, buy a Camel back water pack and load up on ice at the hotel. Bottles of Dasani water is $3 USD each in the resort. I brought a 2L water bag and was getting a little thirsty when night time hit and this was in late April.

There is free wifi all over DW at all their resorts but because there are many hot spots, you will find that there are times where you are jumping from one hot spot to another and may not have internet access.

Download the DW app. The app will show the estimated wait for each rides and other useful tips.

Take as many photos as you want. The DW staff will gladly take photos of you with your camera or phone.
Do consider paying them for photo's as they can take pictures of you and edit in Tinkerbell or other animated characters. We felt it was worth it.

I recommend staying at a hotel on the DW gounds. DW is pretty big. From our hotel, it was a 15 minute shuttle ride to each resort.

If you plan on renting a car, make sure you have a dedicated GPS. Many hwy's in Orlando are toll roads and taking unknown exits can get you pretty lost.

Skip the outlets. We were really disappointed by them. I guess we have been spoiled by the 202 outlets.

If you are a car guy, check out Orlando Kart Center. I highly recommend it. Much more fun than TBC or the old F440 in Tawassen.

I hate to be a party pooper, but please bear in mind that Orlando is one of the higher (highest?) risk US cities as far as Zika is concerned.

Mr. Money: 10 days at each park is definitely overkill. Unless you take your sweet time walking between rides and like to sleep in, you could do each Disney park in a day, and Universal in a day as well.

SumAznGuy has a lot of good tips but I disagree on Hollywood Studios. That was by far my favourite park and my wife and I spent a day and a half there (1 at Magic Kingdom, 1 at Epcot, 0.5 at Animal Kingdom). The Tower of Terror is way better there than in Anaheim, the Aerosmith ride is pretty sick, plus Toy Story Mania is there! Oh, and the animation studios are fun too.

Especially at Universal Studios, bags are a no no. You have to put them in lockers before you get on a ride and it takes a lot of time from your day having to wait in line for the lockers.

If you have an extra day, check out the Kennedy Space Center. I enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Leaning towards staying on the resort. We're doing 4 days WDW and probably 3 days universal. Not sure if we have time to go anywhere else but is Seaworld worth taking another day to go to?

Also any booking tips? Or directly off WDW's website is the best option for their hotels?

Don't need 3 days in Uni, 2 days is enough. Go to Seaworld or Busch Garden instead

Yup, straight off the WDW website.

Again, check out the WDW Prep School website for everything you need to know.

LOL. I loved the Tower of Terror ride. It was funny explaining to some teenagers what The Twilight Zone was.
I think in hindsight, I would have bought a 4 day pass instead of 3.
I can definitely see myself spending a full day at HS.
And of course, if I could do it all over again, I'd wake up at the crack of dawn and try to be one of the first people that enter the park to make full use of our time there.

There is definitely a lot of walking involved and if it is a busier time, expect 2 hr lineups at some of the more popular rides.