Should I have booked a Disney rather than a Universal Hotel (Cabana Bay?)

[KATE3003]

We have been faffing and wondering about a Florida holiday for some time.... We bit the bullet and booked two weeks for Aug 2019 a few days ago - my DDs will be just turned 11 and 12 by the time we go... Am not wondering if we have made a mistake and should have gone for a Disney package with free dining instead...
I know the queues will be crazy in Aug but at least with Disney have the three fast passes a day so can plan in advance. With Universal will we just be stuck in a constant queue. I think we will have to pay at least £200 to swap to a Disney hotel so wondering what to do... If we swapped we would have the extra hours, could do the dining package.. Is it worth it?

I would split the stay between Universal and Disney. If you plan well you won’t have to queue at Disney, but it’s a big advantage to be onsite as you get priority booking for fast passes and restaurants plus magic hours, as you say. The other Universal hotels give you free front of line passes. I don’t think Cabana Bay do, but you can buy them if it’s very busy.

I'd stay at Disney and do one or two nights at universal. Best of both worlds.

Good points, thank you; whether to bite the bullet and make the change!! Dd1 much more interested in the idea of Universal.. wish we had researched better before booking..

As much as your DD might like the idea of Universal, realistically you can do the 2 main parks in one day if you have a fastpass and then there's the volcano bay for another... whereas Disney has more parks/waterparks/food options/disney springs.

I couldn't spend more than a few days at Universal without getting bored. I love the Harry Potter bit though and so having the Universal version of the fastpass is worth it for that alone.

I would swap.
The extra magic hours are so much quieter, you also get better transport (I think most drop you off at magic kingdom rather than the ‘transportation centre’ where you have to get a boat/monorail from to get to the park).

Is the dining plan included in the difference or extra?

As above - split the stay and if you can move universal hotels if you stay in royal Pacific, portofino kor hard rock hotels you get front-of-line passes included for the length of stay.

These passes allow visitors to bypass the regular line but they are not front of line passes. The Universal Express Unlimited pass allows you to bypass the regular lines an unlimited number of times per participating attraction. You still need to pay for park admission.

www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/places-to-stay/on-site-hotels/compare-features/index.html

We stayed in the Cabana Bay a couple of years ago. It was OK, not brilliant, just OK. The food was uninteresting and very expensive. The main dining area was like a school canteen with icy cold aircon and awful loud 1950s music on a constant loop.

The pluses were the pools, lazy river and really, really comfortable beds. The rooms were pretty OK as well.

We found some pretty cheap and really nice places to eat a short drive from the hotel, and the free shuttle bus to Universal/Islands of Adventure was excellent.

We are so used to staying in small family run hotels in Europe that the huge, impersonal Cabana Bay was a little out of my comfort zone.

Went last year with DD’s then aged 8 & 12. We stayed in a villa first for 8 nights and just did Disney parks but not always all day and night, then we transferred to Hard Rock Hotel and did Universal - being so close to Universal was fab, we went to the parks in the morning, doing the early entry twice to get into Harry Potter early (being the only people in Diagon Alley for a few minutes was magical), back to the hotel to use the pool for the afternoon and then back to the park and restaurants in the evening. Perfect balance I think, there’s so much to cover with `Disney that you want to be near those parks and what you save on going with a villa you can then spend on one of the Universal hotels with the fast passes/early entry included.

Also, your DD’s may be more interested in Universal just now but believe me, they will love Disney just as much if not more, it surpassed all my expectations!

For me the free dining makes Disney a no brainier. There is so much more to do, 4 parks, the water parks, evening shows and fireworks. And you will max out the value of your parks tickets - have you factored that in?

There are a few ways to tackle Universal. Three of the on-site hotels offer unlimited express passes (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock and Portofino) to guests, both on day of check in and check out. This means that for a one night stay you get two days of express passes. Some people tag this on to the beginning or end of a Disney stay, or even just for one night during their Disney stay (keeping the Disney room too).

DD was 16 when we went. Getting up early for an hour of fewer crowds just didn't happen

We went to Royal Pacific at Easter for 10 days with DS1 who is 13 and DS2 who is 7. We had unlimited fast passes which were brilliant...we'd go to pool in morning then off to the park until early evening and then back to hotel for more pool and food. Plenty to keep us all occupied for 10 days (we did a day at Magic Kingdom and a day at Epcot as well by getting a 2 park ticket).

Thanks for all the tips.. Can't persuade my dds to swap to a Disney Hotel even though it would be my preference.... I think I prob need tp stop worrying about it and hope for the best. It is just so much money though...

No need for a Disney hotel - parks are plenty quiet enough at opening.

If you can afford it, I’d upgrade your universal hotel to one that includes free universal express passes.

To manage costs, I’d go for a few nights at the more expensive universal hotel and then move to a cheaper hotel or a villa. I can never fathom how families spend two weeks in one hotel room without going mental

We’ve just returned home from Disney and had a fab time, made better by the fact we spent nothing! Disney dining plan is definitely worth it, we even came home with over 50 bags of sweets/choc bars/rice crispie treats as we had left over credits.
Main thing is not to stress too much as you’ll have an amazing time! Extra magic hours aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. It’s busy anyway you just have to go with it.