3 Questions About This Page:

[Nalagh]

We are now looking at Jan-4-8 for U.S. with our 3 kids: 9,7,&6.
The 2 parks for 7 days seems like a good deal.
We are looking to stay at a room at the royal pacific.

Do we have enough time to see and do most everything at both parks in 4 days?
Does the meal plan compare to Disney and is it worth it?
Does anyone have comments on the royal pacific?

Thanks,
Nalagh

[Jolin]

I can only answer the first question, 7 day tickets is pretty much a waste if you want to visit other parks such as Disney! .

I saw every major attraction at ioa and US in one day without needing a front of the line pass although it were dead in early Jan which is when you are going :P
what I would do is book a Value at WDW( values are cheaper than universal hotels BTW) and use mears to visit IOA and US, that way you'll go home feeling like you just had the most fulfilling trip in ages!

[Shell_of_the_South]

We've bought the 7 day ticket for our last trip, and I think it's the best deal in Orlando for park admission. Sure, you probably won't need to use all 7 days, but even if you only use it 2 days, that's still cheaper than anything else out there.

I think you should plan at least 2 days at Universal to really experience both parks without feeling rushed. IOA is a beautiful park, so if you have time to browse through all the theming you'll get the whole experience.

And I would definitely recommend staying at the Royal Pacific. It's a beautiful resort - it's comparable to Disney's deluxe resorts. You can walk to the parks from your hotel. It's about a 10 minute walk from RP to IOA, add about 5 minute to walk to US. Universal also has water taxis that take you to the parks if you don't want to walk. The walk is a relaxing one, the walkways are beautifully landscaped. Disney hotels are a good 20-30 minute drive away, and that's with no traffic. It's also great to be able to take a mid day break at your hotel. The pools are heated, so if it's warm enough outside to swim you definitely want to plan time for your kids to try out the pool at RP. It's got a water play area designed like a ship. Also, if you stay at one Universal resort, you can try out the pools at their other 2 hotels - the Hard Rock and Portofino Bay.

Since you've got 3 kids (like us), another great feature of the Universal hotels is that they will allow 5 in a room. The rooms at the Royal Pacific have 2 queen beds and there is room for a rollaway (extra charge for it though). We brought an air mattress instead.

My kids were 8, 10, and 12 when we first visited Universal, and now they prefer it over Disney. I was unsure if we would enjoy Universal as much as Disney, but we do! Staying onsite at Universal is a much more relaxing vacation for us.

I've never done the meal plan at Universal, so I can't offer any suggestions there. Universal doesn't have as much to choose from as far as dining goes. I think their meal plan involves counter service, you pay so much and get unlimited meals at participating restaurants for one day.

If you have a AAA card, you can get 10% off at most restaurants and gift shops inside the parks. You can get room discounts as well with AAA.

[Colexis Mom]

We did 2 days (we had 5 day passes) in 2006 and were able to see pretty much everything we wanted in both parks. I think you'll be fine

[Ceara's mawmaw]

I agree, I would allow one day for each park and that will be plenty. We purchase the 7 day but didn't need it to see every thing but it is the cheapest way to do it. We also did the meal plan......unlike Disney Universal has a limited menu with it's meal plan, when you tell the restaurants that you have the meal plan they give you a separate smaller menu. That did not appeal to us and will not purchase it again. I will use my AAA discount instead and have more selection.

[Angileyze1]

We also did both parks iin just 2 days. We even rode some attractions twice. I had read that the meal deal wasn't that hot so we didn't bother. We did fine doing counter service one day and then springing for Mythos the second.

[Harrison]

We are also going in May (first time) and plan on spending 3 nights at Hard Rock Hotel. I like the fact that you can go to the front of the line if you stay at Universal. I purchased the 7 day pass for 99.00 it seemed like good value to us Passed on the meal plan thought we would just wing it. Then we are heading to disney for 5 nights

[shadowryter]

We stayed at the Portofino for 3 nights and saw just about everything despite Hurricane Fay.

[BarryH]

4 days is more than enough, especially if you're going during a slow time. I doubt you will see waits longer than 15 minutes throughout the day.

If you do find out you rode and re-rode everything at the parks to your satisfaction, don't forget the Royal Pacific is an experience in itself. Swim in the pool (if it isn't too cold), get a message, eat at Tchop Chop, do the luau, or just sleep until noon. You can also "resort hop" and pool hop. Yes, you can use the pools at the other resorts if you want. This ain't Disney.

You can also take time to explore Citywalk. I'll give you $5 if you come back with a tatoo.

[Huntermom]

I've stayed at both the Royal Pacific and Portofino Bay at Universal. I thought both hotels were wonderful and during all my stays, found customer service to be much better than Disney. I don't know if it was just luck but we've had customer service at Disney resorts that was mediocre at times and at other times just plain poor . I found all the TM's at the Universal hotels went out of their way to make our stay exceptional.

One example is that my first stay at RPR I went to the desk to ask if there was a place in the hotel that sold the hand cream that was in the room. I was told not to worry and asked what my room number was. Housekeeping brought a quart sized zip lock bag of handcreams to my room.

The hotels are very nice and well maintained. I think the RPR is equal to the less expensive deluxes at Disney. They are also more compact so uou don't have to0 worry about feeling you are far from the center of the action.

Diane

[Sue M.]

I think 4 days are good. 1 day Isl. of Adventure, 1 day Studios, then the next 2 days go back to re-visit your favorites. You can do half days for the revisiting & go do something else for the rest of the day, relax at the pool, go to the Outlets, SeaWorld, Outlets, lol!!