Speaking of Disney
 

Our family has only gone to Disney World after my husband has returned home, it's a place of celebration and reunification for our family. However before my oldest goes off to college next year, she wants to go to Disney one last time. Initially we were planning on going to Disneyland because we are in CO and CA is a lot closer than we've ever been. However money and my husband's time off never aligned for that to happen. With my new job, I'll be able to save money for either location and it's really going to happen. However when I polled the children I have one (the oldest) saying she wants to go back to World and the other (the middle) saying she wants to go to Land since we've never been. The youngest, he doesn't really count because he just wants to see Mickey Mouse!

If you had a choice, would you rather go to Disneyland (never have been there before), for 2-3 days and then spend time at Universal Studios OR would you rather go to Disney World, spend a week on property with the dining plan/character meals and NO Universal Studios?

Try to sell me on either location to help our family decide on which Disney to visit

Well..I live in California and have been to Disneyland many times so I would choose Disneyworld. If it were me, though, I would do what would work best for our family and budget. I mean, they aren't paying for it. lol
Good luck!

So while I like Disneyland better (been there more) I think it has gotten so crowded lately that I've heard it's better going to Disney World if you can swing it. I suppose it all depends on the time of year you go, if it's during the weekday it might not be as bad.

I want to go back to Disneyland at least one more time next year. I'm hoping to get things saved up to go in late Feb/early March. Then unless things change we probably won't go again.

Good luck planning your trip.

Do you think there will be a chance of going to either property again in the future?

If it was truly in the budget to do either trip, including accommodations + food + travel, I would probably lean towards what would appeal most to your 2 bigs vs. your 1 little especially if there's a chance you might go in the future (when you could then accommodate your little more).

I have no idea what's at Universal Studios (or what's at World vs. Land) but I would go to the property that would be the most interesting to the most people in your family. I know that HP Land is in/around World and that appeals to a lot of families. Is there something like that at either place that would be a big draw for one or more of your kids?

Budget-wise, I can make both work. I figured going to World will be about the same of Land because we'd be doing Universal Studios and other extra things that we would not be doing at World.

We will do a week at World (Saturday to Saturday) and we will do a week in CA, not specifically just at Land.

With my oldest, probably not unless we can swing it around her college vacations, her job and time off.

They are divided. The oldest wants to go back to what she knows (she doesn't like change). Meanwhile the youngest wants to go to somewhere new. My husband doesn't care, just told me make whatever work.

My oldest is obsessed with Harry Potter, but we went years ago when it was just opened to the public, so she doesn't really care to go back. Meanwhile my middle was too little to ride a lot of the rides when we went to Universal Studios.

That's why I'm here....Part of me wants to go back to what I know, what I've planned in the past. But the other part of me wants to explore something new.

Doh! Now I need to go.... I want the new mugs! :)

Well crud . . . .there's one "pro" for World! :D

I've never been to Land since I live an hour away from World and have an annual pass. Universal Studios is very close to World if you could swing both in FL and that would give everyone something to do. One thing though, right now it's so hot and crowded. My daughter and her family went the other day and didn't even finish out their fast passes before they left because of the heat. And they are used to the temperatures here. I imagine though that's the case in CA also. I know a low of people rent condo's here to stay in instead of a hotel. That way they can do some meals in and it doesn't cost so much for food.

Have you been to Universal? We didn't love it but we did love Harry Potter World so that would be worth it. We haven't been to disneyland either (yet) and tend to always choose Disney World. We also did Universal Florida and loved Harry Potter but hated Universal overall. My husband didn't fit on most rides. :/ . That's never the experience at Disney tho.

My family went to Universal Studios Hollywood for the first time and had a blast. It was definitely smaller than Disneyland, but we were able to go on all the rides we wanted to do.
Another option if you choose Disneyland is going to Knott's Berry Farm instead of Universal. There are more bigger roller coasters there for a little bit more thrill. Plus I think it's a little closer to Disneyland than Universal.

World, hands down. It's bigger and better from what I have saw. I have been to Disney World a few times and never Land, it just seems lesser.

I love Disneyland...it's like home. But, I've never been to the world, so I would choose that.
I think if I were you, I would choose Disneyland because you are so close right now.

My vote is Disneyland. You have already been to WDW 2 times now. You've seen most of it and what it has to offer. I also know that there were some "not so great" moments spent there in the past. Also, your last vacation, you said the girls weren't treated the same meeting characters as their brother (since he's younger). I have heard that the character meets at DL are different- therefore meaning maybe better! Also, you tried eating some same meals at WDW that you had ate at before....but they didn't turn out so good!

DL is a NEW experience for ALL of YOU! Meaning there are no expectations going into it, except to have fun! You won't be comparing it to past vacations, since there aren't any! You are free to make your OWN memories, in your own time, in your own way! You can leave past experiences behind and make brand new ones!

ALSO, if you are relocated to the East coast, you will be closer to WDW again at that time, making it more accessible to you then.

Go with the new! New Park, New experiences for you all! You may never be on that side of the USA again, so take advantage of it now!

You can go to the Pacific Ocean (tide pools- it's in the notes I sent you I think). Universal Studios is slightly different in CA. IT's not as big. It's only 1 park, but it's on 2 levels (I believe). I think CA would be slightly more relaxing and affordable. There are only 2 Disney parks, so you aren't spending 4+ days at DIS, meaning you have some time to relax. Explore Disney Springs, swim at the hotel, go to the Beach, go to US (without taking a day away from Disney).

Ultimately it's up to you...but that's my 2 cents! Whatever you decide, I hope you have an amazing trip!

I've only been to Disney World, and each trip we've stayed off site for 3 nights at the beginning of the trip to spend 2 days at Universal. Then we hop over to Disney World for the rest of the trip, and stay on site. It's a bit of a pain to move hotels after 3 days, but it has worked amazingly well for us, and we get the best of both worlds. Not sure if that's an option?

We went to Universal Studios (at Orlando) many years ago when Harry Potter was just fresh. Now it's expanded in to two areas.

If we do Florida, we will NOT do universal studios as our entire week will be spent on tickets to Disney. But if we do California, we will do universal studios as we won't spend a week at Disney and will need to do things outside of the park.

We just did Disney in February, stayed a week, but off property in a condo. Did Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal, & Islands of Adventure. Skipped Epcot & HS because of all the construction.

Universal IMO is super outdated. The Diagon Alley stuff is cool, but personally, I could have skipped that park. We did really like the Simpsons area too, but, my kids don't watch it, so they didn't really "get it". Islands of Adventure is the better of those two parks, but if you want to ride the Hogwarts Express, you have to have a park hopper.

I've never been to Disneyland (want to), and I've never been able to stay on property at Disney.

My thoughts would be this, are you that big of a Harry Potter fan to go to Universal? Do you like the other attractions there? Because, There is just so much to do and see in WDW, that would be an easy choice for me. I also grew up in Florida, 3 hours away and I never got to visit until I was 18. It was torture!

But, if you've never been to Disneyland, I think there is so much there to see too. That's hard. We've been talking about Disneyland lately, and that's a bucket list thing for me, but we don't have to take the kids there. I just thinking I want to go for the Disney history and being a Disney nerd. LOL!

I don't think I helped at all, other than Universal doesn't impress me, I loved Islands of Adventure and the City Walk in Orlando, we've been twice now to IOA.