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lazybug
LIF Adult
Member since 3/12 1013 total posts
Name:
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Universal and some Disney parks... help
I’m not sure where to start. My family of 5 is going in November to Florida. We’re staying 5 days on a Universal Property. We’re doing two days at Universal Studios/ Island of Adventures, one day at Animal Kingdom and one day at Hollywood Studios. My kids will be 9, 11 and 4 months old. They are very daring and adventurous. They’re looking forward to Star Wars land and Pandora. Any suggestions on other rides or places to have dinner?
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Posted 9/2/19 11:53 PM  |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15657 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by lazybug
I’m not sure where to start. My family of 5 is going in November to Florida. We’re staying 5 days on a Universal Property. We’re doing two days at Universal Studios/ Island of Adventures, one day at Animal Kingdom and one day at Hollywood Studios. My kids will be 9, 11 and 4 months old. They are very daring and adventurous. They’re looking forward to Star Wars land and Pandora. Any suggestions on other rides or places to have dinner?
Pack your patience, because both Flight of Passage and the Star Wars ride lines will be super long! And with you staying off site, you can't book fastpasses until 30 days out, so that means they will be gone by the time you can book. If you can, I would do 3 nights at Universal, and 2 nights on site at Disney so you can book fastpasses 60 days in advance. I wouldn't waste the money staying on a Universal property for 5 days if you aren't going to that park for 5 days, because those Universal "perks" don't carry over to Disney parks.
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| Posted 9/3/19 8:44 AM |
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Aries14
Can't plan life...
Member since 8/08 2860 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by BargainMama
Posted by lazybug
I’m not sure where to start. My family of 5 is going in November to Florida. We’re staying 5 days on a Universal Property. We’re doing two days at Universal Studios/ Island of Adventures, one day at Animal Kingdom and one day at Hollywood Studios. My kids will be 9, 11 and 4 months old. They are very daring and adventurous. They’re looking forward to Star Wars land and Pandora. Any suggestions on other rides or places to have dinner?
Pack your patience, because both Flight of Passage and the Star Wars ride lines will be super long! And with you staying off site, you can't book fastpasses until 30 days out, so that means they will be gone by the time you can book. If you can, I would do 3 nights at Universal, and 2 nights on site at Disney so you can book fastpasses 60 days in advance. I wouldn't waste the money staying on a Universal property for 5 days if you aren't going to that park for 5 days, because those Universal "perks" don't carry over to Disney parks.
I agree... the big /major rides will need fastpasses and if your aren't staying on site i don't think you will get them. We barely got Flights of passage with staying on site and making them 60 days out.
for ride suggestions- in AK Expedition Everest and the Safari rides are good
In HS - Slinky dog roller coaster, rock and roll rollercoaster and tower or terror
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| Posted 9/3/19 10:42 AM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17792 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by Aries14
Posted by BargainMama
Posted by lazybug
I’m not sure where to start. My family of 5 is going in November to Florida. We’re staying 5 days on a Universal Property. We’re doing two days at Universal Studios/ Island of Adventures, one day at Animal Kingdom and one day at Hollywood Studios. My kids will be 9, 11 and 4 months old. They are very daring and adventurous. They’re looking forward to Star Wars land and Pandora. Any suggestions on other rides or places to have dinner?
Pack your patience, because both Flight of Passage and the Star Wars ride lines will be super long! And with you staying off site, you can't book fastpasses until 30 days out, so that means they will be gone by the time you can book. If you can, I would do 3 nights at Universal, and 2 nights on site at Disney so you can book fastpasses 60 days in advance. I wouldn't waste the money staying on a Universal property for 5 days if you aren't going to that park for 5 days, because those Universal "perks" don't carry over to Disney parks.
I agree... the big /major rides will need fastpasses and if your aren't staying on site i don't think you will get them. We barely got Flights of passage with staying on site and making them 60 days out.
for ride suggestions- in AK Expedition Everest and the Safari rides are good
In HS - Slinky dog roller coaster, rock and roll rollercoaster and tower or terror
We stayed offsite last year and did Disney and Universal. We thought we'd do breakfast at AK to get onto the Avatar rides but, by 8:35am the wait was already over 2 hours. I'm sure Star Wars will be the same since it's new.
We aren't planning on going back for awhile now since everything new was so mobbed.
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| Posted 9/3/19 12:58 PM |
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PitterPatter11
Baby Boy is Here!
Member since 5/11 7619 total posts
Name:
Momma <3
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Universal and some Disney parks... help
Here is my advice for Pandora.
Get to Animal Kingdom by 7:45. You’ll be one of the first in lines at the turnstile. They start letting people into the park around 8. For all the other lands, they hold you until 9. For Pandora, they open Flight of Passage more or less immediately after they start letting people into the park at 8. Walk directly there. Do Flight of Passage and then the river ride. They open the river ride at 8:35-8:40. You can be done with BOTH pandora rides before the park even opens. Then go to the other lands. They'll be empty.
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My general advice is to be there way BEFORE rope drop every day. Yes, you are then waiting before the park, but it is worth it. We go to Epcot at 8. They opened the turnstiles at 8:30 and then did rope drop at 9. We were literally the first group on Test Track. By the time we got out of the ride, the line was already 60 minutes. We then walked over to soaring and got right on. We then did Mission: Earth with no wait as well.
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My other advice is to keep checking for FPs to open up. We got a Rocking Roller Coaster the day of.
Message edited 9/5/2019 11:18:35 AM.
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| Posted 9/5/19 4:28 AM |
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lazybug
LIF Adult
Member since 3/12 1013 total posts
Name:
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Universal and some Disney parks... help
Thanks for the advice. We already booked our hotels I’m not sure if we can change it. Is it likely to be that packed in mid November? Also, since we’re not staying on a Disney property do we still get bands? How do I know when I can start booking the fast passes?
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| Posted 9/6/19 6:45 AM |
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ali120206
2 Boys
Member since 7/06 17792 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by lazybug
Thanks for the advice. We already booked our hotels I’m not sure if we can change it. Is it likely to be that packed in mid November? Also, since we’re not staying on a Disney property do we still get bands? How do I know when I can start booking the fast passes?
We went last year mid November and all of the newer things were mobbed.
You will get tickets (like credit cards). You can buy magic bands if you want to. You can book fast passes 30 days before you go. You hook up your tickets on mydisneyexperience and you can book your fast passes there.
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| Posted 9/6/19 6:55 AM |
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LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19458 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
We just got back from this exact trip. You can buy the magic bands at the gate. We had dinner reservations at animal kingdom rainforest cafe and Hollywood studios brown derby. Both were excellent. I agree, getting to the parks at rope drop is essential. For the avatar ride, we waited until the end of the day. It was a three hour wait. It was worth every minute though. For hagrids motorcycle ride, my husband and daughter had to get up at 6 am to get to the park. They waited on line until 10 am when they got special passes to return. There is no fast pass for the hagrid ride for anyone.
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| Posted 9/6/19 8:28 AM |
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BargainMama
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 15657 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by lazybug
Thanks for the advice. We already booked our hotels I’m not sure if we can change it. Is it likely to be that packed in mid November? Also, since we’re not staying on a Disney property do we still get bands? How do I know when I can start booking the fast passes?
Disney is always packed nowadays. Unless you booked a package, you can usually change your hotel, and I would definitely do that.
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| Posted 9/6/19 2:02 PM |
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DancinBarefoot
06ers Rock!!
Member since 1/07 9534 total posts
Name:
The One My Mother Gave Me ;-)
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
Posted by lazybug
Thanks for the advice. We already booked our hotels I’m not sure if we can change it. Is it likely to be that packed in mid November? Also, since we’re not staying on a Disney property do we still get bands? How do I know when I can start booking the fast passes?
If you're not staying on property, the only way to get magic bands is to buy them. If you have them from a previous trip you can use them again.
You can book Fast Passes 30 days prior to day you want the fast pass - and that's it (so you'll have to book them two different days). For example, ir you plan to be in Disney November 1 and 2, you can book 11/1 fast pass on Oct 2, and 11/2 fast pass on Oct 3. You must have a theme park ticket to book a fast pass, and the ticket must be linked to your "My Disney Experience" account.
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| Posted 9/7/19 1:33 PM |
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pnbplus1
Family
Member since 5/09 5751 total posts
Name:
Mommy
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
I will add that getting FP's for FOP is diificult even for people who stay onsite in that people get them at 60+3, 60+4, etc - onsite stays the FP window opens at 60 days for your entire stay so if you are staying 7 nights you can book for your FP's for your last day at 67 days out, if that makes sense. So if you are only staying onsite at Disney for 2 days, you wouldn't be guaranteed a FP for FOP so don't change your hotel stay only for that reason.
We have annual passes and usually stay offsite so we always book FP's at 30 days out. Slinky Dog and FOP are the harder ones to get but I got SDD at 2 weeks out so it's not impossible. As for Smugglers Run at Galaxy's Edge, there are no FP's for that as of now. At HS, you can only book 1 Tier 1 ride at a time and basically all of the rides are Tier 1 (TSM, Alien Saucers, TOT, SDD, Rockin) so you should be able to get other rides day once you tap in to your initial first 3 FPs.
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| Posted 9/8/19 1:46 PM |
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FirstMate
My lil cowboy
Member since 10/10 7790 total posts
Name:
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Re: Universal and some Disney parks... help
For Hollywood Studios, my son, who is 8, really loved Toy Story Land, Tower of Terror and the Rockin Roller coaster. Honestly, he really loved it all.
For Animal Kingdom, he liked FOP, Expedition Everest and Bug's life. he was a little scared on the Dinosaur expedition ride. The safari and Kali river rapids are pretty cool too. Personally, I thought the Pandora River ride was stupid. To me, it was like Small World Pandora style. But that's JMO.
For eating, at AK we really liked Tusker House. It was a really great character meal. They have a lot of fun choices at AK. We had breakfast at Rainforest Cafe but you can eat there anywhere so I'm not necessarily a fan of that place.
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| Posted 9/13/19 12:50 PM |
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