Using DVC for universal and sea world for a trip

dclpluto

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 11, 2012
Im thinking about using my dvc just for universal and sea world next year for one trip. It's been over 10 years since I been to universal or sea world.
Don't get me wrong I love Disney but would just be getting done 4 trips in a year with annual passes and going to take a year off until I go again with annual passes. Anyone regret doing this. I know universal has head of the line privilege or something for staying at their expensive resorts.
How much for a uber one way? Probably go two days to universal and one day to sea world. Don't really want to rent a car since I will be going on DCL afterwards.
It will be nice staying by universal but it will also be nice coming back to a 1 bedroom with universal definitely won't have. Or the money I want to spend for a room at universal that' has a washer and dryer.
What are the pros and negatives you can think of?
 
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We use our DVC to tour all of Orlando... we've done trips to Universal, Sea World, DC. We almost always still hit the Disney parks even if we are crossing over to "the dark side."

Uber probably won't be too pricey... maybe $20? This should help: https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate
 
Uber is often on demand pricing for that trip though. Why not just rent a car for a few days? Alamo/national can be rented/returned on Disney property if you're using the DCL shuttle, or a few companies have a location at Port Canaveral and you can just drop or pick up there.
 
For my family the express pass is hard to beat. When we do Universal, we stay there. We also love being able to walk from the hotel to the parks. No buses,no fighting traffic or dealing with parking. You could consider renting out your points to stay onsite at Universal.
 


Im thinking about using my dvc just for universal and sea world next year for one trip. It's been over 10 years since I been to universal or sea world.
Don't get me wrong I love Disney but would just be getting done 4 trips in a year with annual passes and going to take a year off until I go again with annual passes. Anyone regret doing this. I know universal has head of the line privilege or something for staying at their expensive resorts.
How much for a uber one way? Probably go two days to universal and one day to sea world. Don't really want to rent a car since I will be going on DCL afterwards.
It will be nice staying by universal but it will also be nice coming back to a 1 bedroom with universal definitely won't have. Or the money I want to spend for a room at universal that' has a washer and dryer.
What are the pros and negatives you can think of?

Only PBH, RPH & HRH have FOTL perks. They are true deluxe hotels. We love the suites there. A large part of the U experience for us is staying onsite, 1 night grants you access the day you arrive & checkout.

Plenty of threads to read on Universal Boards here to help you decide if your plan is right for you.

Perhaps a split trip might work for you? Could sandwich the cruise with U on one end onsite & SW on the other using points @ DVC.

Uber app will give you estimate, it varies as to time of day/peak travel.
 
How about renting out your points and using the proceeds to book a Universal hotel? Then you get front of the line for Universal.

This!

When we go to Universal, we rent our DVC points out and use the proceeds to stay onsite at Universal. Loews really knows how to run a resort, unlike Disney, and the three original resorts also have front of the line access. We also enjoy Cabana Bay and Sapphire Falls even though they don't come with FOTL.

We've also done Universal while staying at DVC, but it's not as convenient.
 


We just did SW last week staying at AKL.
We have done both SW and US/IoA while stay at either OKW or SSR, since they are the closest DVC to those parks.
As PPs say, if you can get a FOTL pass at US/IoA; go for it as you will be saving yourself a lot of time from not having to wait in the lines. You also get one hour of early entry to US/Ioa/VB staying at ANY of the resorts onsite at US.
 
I have stayed on DVC property and been to Universal, Sea World and once even over to Cape Kennedy for a space shuttle launch. A little variety every once in a while is awesome!
 
In the past, we preferred staying at universal resorts even though there is a lot less space. you can't beat the express pass. We usually just stayed 1 night and took advantage of the pass for 2 days. Well worth it. It is also nice to experience the different ambiance that universal offers in their resorts.

but now the resorts have gotten so expensive with very little in the way of discounts. their tix too. And with the harry potter and other new rides not on express pass, it is hard to justify the 3 resorts. Sapphire falls is a lot less expensive and still lets you into harry potter an hour before the park opens so that's helpful. We have a trip planned in sept and are only going to go to the new universal water park so we will stay at DVC the whole time.
 
We are doing exactly this in September. Staying at SSR on points but doing Sea World, Discovery Cove, Bush Gardens and Aquatica. We have our own car so no biggie and most meals are planne for either Disney Springs or off-site. We did snag tix for the DVC member event at AKL for one of our nights so we'll get a Disney parks fix LOL
 
We debated the same thing - stay at WDW and commute to UO - staying at UO won because it was going to be too inconvenient to commute back and forth and with the added cost of uber it just made sense to book a room at RPR. The unlimited express pass was well worth the $280 per night room cost for our family of 5. If the cost of the universal room is an issue then rent out your points use the cash to get at least one night at UO resort with the express pass - this will give you actually 2 days of express pass - your arrival and departure day. I think the express pass is an added $85 per person - so if you are going with a few people to cost of the room could pretty much cover what the cost of the EP would be.
 

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