DryCreek wrote:
Just my two cents worth:
I am a Disney fan, but I also have been to Universal Studios for an exclusive vacation. My recommendation is to always stay on-site for either choice. Unfortunately, an RV park is not part of Universal property like Fort Wilderness in Disney World.
Since you are staying on-site at a Disney Resort property, you have Extra Magic Hours you can use to your benefit. ---> https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/planning-guides/in-depth-advice/extended-theme-park-hours/
That will get you in to a selected theme park each day an hour before they open the gates for general admission. We would always make that early opening and get the most popular attractions checked off of our list. Once the crowds really started building, we'd head back to the campground or hotel for lunch, a cooling-off in the pool and a quick nap. At around 4 we would then eat a light supper and head back to the selected theme park and finish the night off. As a resort guest you also get an extra hour AFTER the park closes too. If you use that perk you can effectively enjoy Disney World theme parks. You can choose to spend the hottest part of the day in comfort - while the others are dealing with cranky, hot and hungry toddlers. After they have had their fill, you head in and enjoy the (slightly) cooler temps an (slightly) smaller crowds until closing and the day pass visitors are leaving. We would close that park down and head for bed to get up early and start the cycle again at whichever theme park had early opening for that day.
Since you've got some planning time before your trip, I also advise a free membership to one of the Disney Park fan forums - I like both Intercot and DisBoards. They can help you set up your plans well in advance. If you already have your Fort Wilderness reservations, then you can start making your FastPass reservations up to 60 days in advance! If you want to ensure that you get on certain rides and you knwo which park you plan to be at on a certain day - this is the way to go. Another extra cost item you may consider is adding Park Hopper options to your tickets. That will allow you to go to the park with early opening hours, and then go to a different park that afternoon, and yet a different park in the evening. That option adds quite a bit of flexibility to your stay.
One of the best benefits of staying at Fort Wilderness is that you can ride the launch over to the Magic Kingdom (faster than a bus, more scenic), or you can hop on a launch to the Contemporary Resort and then a monorail to the TTC, and change over to the Epcot monorail there. When we stayed on site, we never started our tow vehicle until the day we were hooking up and heading back home.
If you want trip planning hints for Universal, I can provide those too - but there is a lot to do at Disney World - more than enough to fill up seven whole days.
We have stayed in various hotels deluxe down to value over the last 20 plus years at Disney. We have never taken the RV and stayed at Fort Wilderness. We are thinking of staying 7 days at FW and taking a Uber to Universal for a 1 day park to park. My 15 and 12 year olds love Disney but want to try Universal. Any suggestions? We don't tow a car.
