Disney World and Universal Studios Florida

[kdogg]

I am heading off soon here to Disney World and Universal Studios Florida. Since I only have 1 week, I am trying to effectively plan for my visits to Disneyworld and Universal Studios.

I just noticed there are now two parts to Universal Studios, Universal and Islands of Adventure. My main question is would I be able do both Universal and Islands of Adventure in one day? Or would I need at least 2 days to hit the majority of attractions?

Any other suggestions or tips for the other Disney parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, Blizzard Beach)?
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[henriksedin33]

For 1 week, assuming you are gonna be at the parks every day, I would do:

2 days Disney World/Epcot (maybe half a day)
1 day MGM studios
1 day Typhoon Lagoon
1 day Universal Studios
1 day Islands of Adventure


You can get a multi day pass that is good for all of the Disney parks. For the waterparks, Blizzard Beach has better slides but Typhoon lagoon has an awesome wave pool.

Islands of Adventure was more fun for me than Universal, but thats probably because I've been to the California one several times so it wasnt anything new. At Islands of Adventure, be sure to checkout Hulk, Spiderman, and the Dueling Dragons rides (my favorite). I think if you havent been to Universal before, you would probably need 2 days for the 2 parks.

[getbak]

If you've been to Universal Hollywood, the Studios park in Florida doesn't have a lot of different stuff. The Mummy roller coaster in Florida is much better than the one in Hollywood. The Florida studios also has a Men in Black ride that Hollywood doesn't have. Otherwise, Florida mostly has stuff they also have in Hollywood, except some of the things like Earthquake and Jaws are full attractions in Florida rather than just stops on the tour like in Hollywood.

If you haven't been to Universal Hollywood (or it's been a while), you'll want a full day at each Universal park in Florida. If you have been to Hollywood, you could get away with only one day, spent mostly at Islands of Adventure - if you get a park hopper that lets you visit both parks in the same day. I believe the one-day 2 park ticket is at least $75US, so it won't cost much more to get a two-day ticket so you can take your time.

If you only have time/money for one park at Universal, do Islands of Adventure, it's great.


You'll want at least a full day for each of the Disney parks, probably more for the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. You could get away with less time at Disney-MGM Studios because there really isn't much there beyond Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (and Star Tours if you haven't been to Disneyland).

They've added the Expedition Everest roller coaster to Animal Kingdom since I was last there, but I've heard good things about it. The park will probably still not take a full day. I love Animal Kingdom, but there aren't a lot of rides, if that's your focus. The chicken sandwich from the Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom is my favourite food at WDW.

I would buy the park hopper option for Disney World, so you can go to more than one park each day. Do a full day in both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and partial days at both Disney-MGM and Animal Kingdom, with the last part of the day back at Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

If you're going soon, one problem is that the parks have shorter hours so you don't have as much time in the day to spend at the parks. Epcot is open until 9 every night, but the other parks may close as early as 6. If you're staying on Disney property, they have what they call Extra Magic Hours where one park opens early and one park stays open later every day for people staying on property.

There's usually only one of the water parks open at this time of year, so you probably won't have a choice for which one to go to. The water park probably won't take more than a couple of hours (personally, I wouldn't do a water park if I only had a week).

Since the parks close early, you'll have time at night to do stuff outside the parks. Universal has an area called City Walk with a bunch of themed nightclubs and shops. Disney has Downtown Disney with Pleasure Island. The Adventurers' Club at Pleasure Island is one of my favourite places at all of WDW. It's like an interactive improv show with a bunch of characters interacting with the crowd. You have to go to at least one of the shows in the library and one of the presentations in the Mask Room.


An advantage of going at this time of year is that there are virtually no crowds, especially at Universal. I was down there in both January 2004 and 2005 and it was great. Also, the weather wasn't unbearably hot and humid like it is during the summer either.

[Jayems]

I would devote an entire day to Islands of Adventure.... The lines can get long (The Hulk, Deuling Dragons) so be prepared for at least 30 minute waits on each ride (unless you get one of those speed passes, not sure how much they are though, but they give you close to front of the line access)

I was bored stiff at Epcot... even the new space ride that people keep dying on sucked.. only good thing was drinking beer at almost every "small world" country.

I didn't go to Blizzard beach last time I was there, but I did the time before, and I loved it. I think its kinda out of the way IIRC, but it was a riot. The tube moat around the park is cool.. basically a river float around.. relaxing way to chill in the sun.. If you do the jet-ski tube ride, the guys will try and kill you... I hung on for dear life and survived.. my bro got turfed and got a little banged up.. but they're crazy.

Make sure you get the front of dueling dragons at least once... totally worth the extra wait.

[Ironhorse]

We were at WDW last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Best time of the year to go. We did both Universal Parks in one day (got there at 9, left at 6), for a special price because it was so dead. There were NO lineups for almost anything.

My wife went to all the WDW parks (I had to work, only saw a few ), definitely get the park hopper option. Most of the parks kind of suck when it gets dark, except for MGM studios, which is great day or evening. If you go there, make sure to attend the Stunt Show. Downtown Disney is free, some amazing shopping can be done there. If you're staying on Disney property, there are free shuttle busses to all the parks and DT Disney every 15 min that drop you off at the front door.

The waterparks were fun, we did Typhoon Lagoon, which has an awesome tube rollercoaster ride. Again, pretty empty when we were there, I swear it was only filled up with Canucks.

Purchase all of your days in one shot up front, you'll save some $$ there. And speaking of money, be prepared for sticker shock when buying food on Disney properties.

Edit: And +1 for what has already been said about the rollercoasters, if you're into those kind of things.

[OilersBaby]

I had an AWESOME time at Epcot, really enjoyed it...you should definately check that out!