disney or universal

[skipdale]

help.

We are off to Florida at the beginning of feb 09 (me, husband and 2 kids 6 & 2years)
we cant decide which to for disney 14 day premium or Universal tickets.
Too expensive to do both.
Any ideas which parks are better?

[chelseatom]

we did both the 1st time, this year we just did universal as i have 2 sons and they are not into disney at all, we are going back and doing universaL again

[dogfish]

Definately Disney for first time! Lots more to do there for the little ones :D

[Deedee]

6 + 2 yr old deffo Disney, with a day trip to seaworld, wwhen I say day, I mean day and night for the SHamu show

[meemo38]

def disney for the ages of your kids, we did both and although both are nice its a push to get everything in, but you must go to seaworld, and you usually get a second visit free, so you can go and do it again if you get time, sadly we didnt, we actually missed seeing so much the first time, so its an excuse to go gain LOL...we will be doing both again though as taking some first timers with us.
Michelle

[muddles]

Disney for me too - did it 1st year - Universal 2nd year - Much preferred Disney :)

[chelseatom]

i am not even having a park ticket next time, cos all i do is save the bags, i hate rides, so i am just gonna sun it all holiday

[ballinaah]

We as a family prefere universal , but the ages of your children universal is not suitable for 14 days, you need to be at Disney, you will waste your money on 14 day flexi tickets but will use Disney to max
Fiona x

[chelseatom]

but the universal flex pass is for seaworld, wet n wild, aquatica and both universal parks , we used ours everyday

[cannyscot]

Have you looked at a different option? Next time I go (especially with small children) I would buy a magic your way ticket with water parks added on for so many days and you can buy 7 day tickets to universal for very little -we got them for about £40 -adult.

Look on the dibb -I totally changed what I did by looking here-I thought we would do disney one time and universal next.

..and my next visit(2nd) I would do above-as we never once park hopped.

[ploppy]

Got to be Disney. so much more for your money and much more magical.:)

[marie]

Definately Disney. We did both first time (without kids) and then just disney, but when we go next year or year after with young children will be Disney, so magical for them, and more things for young ones to do as well....but do Seaworld too, it is brilliant too.

[Georgie]

Definately Disney with children of that age and a day in seaworld.

They are a bit young for much of Universal and Wet and Wild is a dump unless it has had a major refurb since the last time I went there.

We did Disney the first time they were 3 and 5, including Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Disney Quest. Disney, Seaworld and Discovery Cove the second time. Universal, Bushe Gardens, W&W, IofA, Sea World etc on the 14 day flex ticket the third time when they were much older.

You can pace yourself better if you do one or the other and also save about £600 on the flex tickets or whatever they cost now for 4.

[hls22]

Same here! You'll get better value for money in Disney (amount of parks/attractions etc). Keep an eye out for any offeers that Seaworld do...they often do a buy one day, get one free; or sometimes if you take your ticket to guest relations at the end of the day they'll give you a voucher to go back again within 14 days for free (worth a USA phonecall to check!) We've only paid for one day on 2 occasions, but got an extra day free.

Have fun - it really is a 'magical' place, I love it!
xx

[meemo38]

Same here! You'll get better value for money in Disney (amount of parks/attractions etc). Keep an eye out for any offeers that Seaworld do...they often do a buy one day, get one free; or sometimes if you take your ticket to guest relations at the end of the day they'll give you a voucher to go back again within 14 days for free (worth a USA phonecall to check!) We've only paid for one day on 2 occasions, but got an extra day free.

Have fun - it really is a 'magical' place, I love it!
xx
Still doing it in Oct of last year, we got the extra free day, i had to go to guest relations for it.

[princessa]

We've just done Disney for 2 weeks, as our first time. Found the buses really handy for us not having to drive on our first visit out there.

[sunshine]

Disney is best for small children though universal is good for older kids.

[Melcatfish]

Disney without a doubt. Seaworld often have good offers so keep an eye on their website and use that to break the holiday up if you are worried about 14 days of Disney. However with the four parks plus the waterparks I think there is plenty for you to do at Disney and with the ages of your children I think you would be nuts not to opt for Disney over universal if that s the straight choice.

Mel
x

[irishcolleen37]

where can i get the theme park tickets cheap. i`m going to hardrock hotel in universal we will be not be going to disney as we are taking a 13 year old. could anyone give me a site for universal tickets.

[Georgie]

where can i get the theme park tickets cheap. i`m going to hardrock hotel in universal we will be not be going to disney as we are taking a 13 year old. could anyone give me a site for universal tickets.


www.undercovertourist.com are quite good you need to select attraction tickets and check to price in the currency you require ie GB pounds, Euros etc
you can price up various different options without committing to buy.

[dogfish]

www.viator.com also have a great deal on a seven day ticket, there was a 5% off code knocking around too :)

[irishcolleen37]

thank you everyone for helping me out. virgin seems to be the cheapest at the minute for universal theme park flexticket.. as i`m going with virgin could i pay the theme park tickets with tesco the same time as i book my holiday with them.. could someone help me in this pleaseeee..

[Georgie]

thank you everyone for helping me out. virgin seems to be the cheapest at the minute for universal theme park flexticket.. as i`m going with virgin could i pay the theme park tickets with tesco the same time as i book my holiday with them.. could someone help me in this pleaseeee..


I think they will be very happy to organise your Univerals Tickets for you, but I dont think they will let you pay for them with deals if thats what you mean, they will expect cash/debit or credit card payment for them.

[kenziekoo]

universal in florida isn't as good at the one in LA so would defo say Disney!!!! very jealous!!!

[irishcolleen37]

thanks georgie, u`ve been a great help thanks..

[heatherbelle]

if you have a look on wdwinfo, then Universal Tickets are quite cheap there.

Personally, I wouldn't go to Universal Studios again, last time we went we went on 2 rides, 3 of the big ones weren't working and walked out again, but we have been 3 times now.

We are even skipping the one in LA next time, as so many of the rides are similar.

I your children are very young, I would give it a miss, so to Acquaitica instead or one of the other water parks. SW is vey good too for little ones.

Islands is the better park for rides, but is more suitable for older kids than 6. My DH loves this park, but we are not too keen. (Somthing to do with bery big scary coasters:eek:)

[sweepy]

I love disney every time.
sweepyxx

[firemalkin]

Has anyone ever bought the partly used park tickets that you get in Orlando.
(that is a 7 day ticket that some else has used, but has say 3 days left on it).
If you don't want to go into all the parks (cos you have already done them) but maybe want to spend a day or two in a couple of the parks, is buying part used tickets the best deal or should I buy day passes for the parks I really want to go into ?

[rainbow]

Not heard of this firemalkin. Do you know where to get them?

[Georgie]

Not heard of this firemalkin. Do you know where to get them?


I think it is just people selling on tickets that have a few days unexpired on them, probably Magic my Way tickets in the US that dont ever expire. Depending on the tickets you might be able to get them here on ebay, or I think there used to be funny little booths on IDrive that bought them and sold them on. I think that stricktly speaking you aren't supposed to do it as most of the tickets say not transferable on them or something similar.

[rainbow]

Don't seehow it's possible, as we had those tickets in October and you had to get ID'd through your fingerprints on every visit. :confused:

[mummytotwo]

The problem with part used tickets that you can not guarantee that they are going o be valid and also what about entry to the park as you need to index your index finger into the machine at the parks.

I would buy a new ticket if it were me,. IMO.

[Georgie]

Don't seehow it's possible, as we had those tickets in October and you had to get ID'd through your fingerprints on every visit. :confused:

Thats what I thought when the other person put the post up. :confused:

I think this was something people used to do in the old days and they got fed up with it, as its expressly against the terms and conditions on the tickets and that is why they brought in fingerprint recognition.

Its not something I would have done anyway.

[rainbow]

It is annoying though when you know you have paid for 14 days but only used say half. It's a pity Disney themselves don't ahve a system where you could *sell* part-used tickets back to them for resale to people only wanting one or two day tickets. (These tickets cost a fortune!) But then why would they? They'd be losing too much money. I wouldn't buy used tickets unless they were guaranteed to work, but it doesn't seem to be possible. I once got stung with Port Aventura tickets like this, so never again!

[Floosy]

At 6 and 2 you will be pretty much limited to a lot of the rides at any parks, due to height restrictions. Id go for the universal flex as tom suggested and a disney pass too. Epcot is not geared towards little ones really, so don't waste your time with it. Busch gardens, sea world, wet n wild, universal and Islands of adventure are fantastic. Another one to avoid really is Hollywood studio's, at 6 and 2 the kiddies will find it boring. I have 11, 8 and a 6yr old and previously took mine when they were - 6,3, & 1.

[Floosy]

Personally would not buy used tickets but saying that they can overide the fingerprint on them, so many times mine kept fluffing up they just over-rode it.

[rainbow]

Mine fluffed a couple of times too, but they made me keep trying! You must look a picture of innocence and I must have looked dodgy :lol:

[Floosy]

I know rainbow - we did the left finger, right finger and thumb dance a few times and then they just over-rode it.

[mummytotwo]

Mine finger thing never seemed to work at Seaworld or Disney but I was asked for my passport as ID a couple of times so I must really look dodgy :D

[Georgie]

Mine finger thing never seemed to work at Seaworld or Disney but I was asked for my passport as ID a couple of times so I must really look dodgy :D


I find it really annoying having to have my passport with me. Always worry in case I lose them, as that's the sort of thing I do.:rolleyes: