Florida- Disney/Universal split

[UserMe18]

Has anyone booked separately at different hotels to maximise benefits? I'm thinking of booking a Disney hotel 10/11 nights on the free dining plan when released and Hard Rock Hotel for 3/4 nights. Any advice? Pitfalls? I wanted to rent a car but put off by the hotel parking charges. We are quite flexible at this stage when we go, though I'm thinking maybe May (next year). I'd book flights later. 4 of us, children 9 and 6, first time going to Florida (as grown ups!).

@UserMe18 - need to book restaurant early as they do get booked up quickly. We took the last reservation that was available for our entire holiday

Don’t bother with a hire car to get around Orlando, Uber are fab and they always have cars hovering in the vicinity of the main hotels so they are literally there as soon as you book one. Journey to malls etc about $10-$15 one way. Much cheaper than paying for car hire and parking and more relaxing than driving yourself. Definitely worth doing at least 3 nights at Universal, Hard Rock hotel is amazing but so is Cabana Bay if you want to save money. Queues at Universal not as bad as Disney so we found express passes nice to have but not a necessity.

Ps. If you can’t get a table booking for t-Rex you can always ask if you can just have drinks st the bar. If you go st a quiet time you can have a good look around without paying food prices