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Old 4 Jun 19, 10:05 AM  
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#1
AEHJ
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Disney v Universal

Hi
New to this site and just planning a trip for August 2020.
I’ve been to Disney as a teenager and as a young adult before having children.
Our kids will be 9 & 10 next summer and it’s their first time to Florida.
I’m unsure as whether to do Disney. It seems a lot of money and the rides I think are too small for our kids.
Would I be better going to universal 3 parks and Seaworld 3 parks instead and staying at universal hotel.
Looked at the disney free dining but to get this you obviously have to add on the Disney hotel and passes and that comes in at £9k before even adding on any other park tickets.
My theory is there are better suited rides at universal and seaworld, good water parks and the hotels are cheaper whereas Disney is younger and some of the parks included have better rivals?

Experts needed on this one! Am I missing something with Disney?
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Old 4 Jun 19, 10:11 AM  
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Robblps
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Disney is class though, the themes and atmosphere that's created there is second to none.

9 and 10 is a tough age, I wonder would they see themselves too old to meet Mickey Mouse and stuff, I dont know.

Just Seaworld and Universal though, will still give you plenty to do, we have considered the cheaper option for next year too, and leaving Disney out aswell. It would stillleave us with 2 waterparks, and 4 theme parks, so maybe its not all bad, plus it gives you plenty of time to relax.
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Old 4 Jun 19, 10:17 AM  
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ayeready
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Do you need to stay on site?

With kids of that age you might be best off in a villa or 2 bed apartment off site.

If it's your first time and you plan on going back again my advice would be don't try to do every park.
Pick one main park plus some add on's and enjoy yourselves.

As for Disney. Yes its worth it. My kids are 8 & 15 and there's no keeping them away form the place. The Disney magic works on everyone!
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Old 4 Jun 19, 10:18 AM  
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Bozza
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I think you've got your perception of rides the wrong way round.

Universal and Sea World have a far greater focus on big fast thrill rides, whereas much at Disney World is gentler paced.

With kids of that age, and if I were looking to only buy one set of tickets and for a first trip to the Orlando area, I'd be going to Disney World.

You are correct in that free dining can only be obtained by buying a hotel + tickets package, but there are different levels of hotels (check out the likes of Pop Century and Art of Animation for more budget options) with each coming with a different level of included dining.

Many people do not stay in a Disney hotel at all though, preferring to be off-site which is almost always cheaper, often considerably so.
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Old 4 Jun 19, 10:22 AM  
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HappyThoughts
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DS was 9 on our last trip (DD8) & this time he’ll be coming up 12 & DD 10.5 & both still love Disney. We’re there for 21 days & other than 3 days at Universal we’ll just be doing Disney at their request.

The theming is great not to mention the characters & shows are fantastic for any age group. As for the rides yes some are for younger kids/families but from person experience I think there’s plenty of ‘older’ rides they’d enjoy too, eg. FoP, Dinosaur, Everest, Rapids, Soarin, Test Track, Mine Train, Space/Splash/Thunder Mountain, Buzz rangers, ToyStory Mania, Slinky, Aliens, Star Tours, Tower of Tower, Rock n Rollercoaster.

Also don’t forget rides like Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Small World, Nemo, Safari etc. are just plain fun to do at any age.

Have you considered staying offsite - maybe on I drive or at LBV - to cut costs & maybe doing all the parks? That way you wouldn’t have to pick between Disney & Universal?
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Old 4 Jun 19, 11:44 AM  
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Originally Posted by AEHJ View Post
Hi
New to this site and just planning a trip for August 2020.
I’ve been to Disney as a teenager and as a young adult before having children.
Our kids will be 9 & 10 next summer and it’s their first time to Florida.
I’m unsure as whether to do Disney. It seems a lot of money and the rides I think are too small for our kids.
Would I be better going to universal 3 parks and Seaworld 3 parks instead and staying at universal hotel.
Looked at the disney free dining but to get this you obviously have to add on the Disney hotel and passes and that comes in at £9k before even adding on any other park tickets.
My theory is there are better suited rides at universal and seaworld, good water parks and the hotels are cheaper whereas Disney is younger and some of the parks included have better rivals?

Experts needed on this one! Am I missing something with Disney?
I do think it makes sense to chose one of the other considering the cost of tickets. However I don't agree that this is an age based decision.

There are plenty of people over the age of 8 that enjoy Disney. We travel as a couple in our mid to late 40s and we like Universal, but we prefer Disney as there is a wider range of things to do. We find there are plenty of rides that are not too small for us.
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Old 4 Jun 19, 12:35 PM  
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Weddingnyc
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I think it depends on your kids, DD is 10, whilst very mature in some ways, will not attempt any of the faster rides at Disney - very different to DS (7)! They both love meeting characters and the Disney vibe - it’s not just about the rides. This is the 3rd time for “just” Disney, I’m sure we’ll get round to Universal in a few years 😀
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Old 4 Jun 19, 01:58 PM  
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Craigy
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I've been to both, now all we do is Universal and SeaWorld parks with a random Disney park added in if we get time.
Once I have kids, then I'll go back to Disney. Unfortunately for now it's too busy for what its worth
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Old 4 Jun 19, 02:17 PM  
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angel_eyes
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Be sure to consider the height restrictions, rather than simply your children's ages. My son was just shy of nine during his first visit and whilst he preferred the stylings of Universal/SeaWorld he was 2 cms short to ride the likes of Hulk, Mako etc, which really got him down when we had to child swap in the queues. You would certainly still have plenty to do if you considered tickets for only Universal and SeaWorld resorts but I don't think anyone is ever too old for Disney! DS will be 10 when we next visit and, whilst we will probably skip MK, we still plan to go back to the other three Disney parks.

Edit: Bad mother - my son will be 11 when we next visit!
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Old 4 Jun 19, 02:30 PM  
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Moorlandman
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Originally Posted by angel_eyes View Post
Be sure to consider the height restrictions, rather than simply your children's ages.
Agree with this. The four top coasters at Sea World require you to be 137cm tall. Similar at Universal
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