(x-post) Splitting vacay between Disney and Sea World

[MommyBryn]

I am x-posting this in hopes of getting more relevant replies for each resort. This one for Sea World, obviously. If you read this thread in the Universal forum, it's the same questions.

We're considering splitting our vacation between Disney and Sea World/Universal. (plan to go to both of those, but only actually STAY at one or the other) We've visited them during Disney trips before but only stayed on Disney property. FWIW, we'd be at SW or Universal for the FIRST part of the vacation...unless it would be easier to do it the other way and do Disney first?? It *seems* like it would be easiest to start out with the shorter stay (2-3 days) and end with the longer one (6ish days), but perhaps there is more benefit to doing it the other way around? It seems like it may even be cheaper than staying the full time at Disney.

I'm sure there's someone else out there who's done this, so I have a few questions. First, which resort is best for staying AT Sea World? Walking distance... How about dining while there? Basically any on-site info would be helpful, as SW is the place I've been able to collect the least information on.

How far away is Universal from SW? Is there a bus route between them?

What kind of transportation did you use to get from Sea World to Disney WITH all of your luggage? I know there is a bus route but can't do that with luggage, obviously. Renting a car is out, because that would mean hauling 4 carseats on our cross country flight, among other things, the cost included. I hate going w/o carseats but we've done a bus in Orlando before so I know it's a possibility, just not sure what our options WITH luggage are. Does Mears do that and if so, cost ideas? (we've used them from the airport before) Honestly though, if carseats are the deal breaker we just won't bother staying anywhere but Disney.

Disney is easy. But as far as accomodations, the rest I have no experience with.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[dprincessmom]

I am x-posting this in hopes of getting more relevant replies for each resort. This one for Sea World, obviously. If you read this thread in the Universal forum, it's the same questions.

We're considering splitting our vacation between Disney and Sea World/Universal. (plan to go to both of those, but only actually STAY at one or the other) We've visited them during Disney trips before but only stayed on Disney property. FWIW, we'd be at SW or Universal for the FIRST part of the vacation...unless it would be easier to do it the other way and do Disney first?? It *seems* like it would be easiest to start out with the shorter stay (2-3 days) and end with the longer one (6ish days), but perhaps there is more benefit to doing it the other way around? It seems like it may even be cheaper than staying the full time at Disney.

I'm sure there's someone else out there who's done this, so I have a few questions. First, which resort is best for staying AT Sea World? Walking distance... How about dining while there? Basically any on-site info would be helpful, as SW is the place I've been able to collect the least information on.

How far away is Universal from SW? Is there a bus route between them?

What kind of transportation did you use to get from Sea World to Disney WITH all of your luggage? I know there is a bus route but can't do that with luggage, obviously. Renting a car is out, because that would mean hauling 4 carseats on our cross country flight, among other things, the cost included. I hate going w/o carseats but we've done a bus in Orlando before so I know it's a possibility, just not sure what our options WITH luggage are. Does Mears do that and if so, cost ideas? (we've used them from the airport before) Honestly though, if carseats are the deal breaker we just won't bother staying anywhere but Disney.

Disney is easy. But as far as accomodations, the rest I have no experience with.

Thanks for any help!!

We just got back for Sea World and had a great time. We stayed at the DoubleTree @ Sea World. They had a great deal for rooms and tickets. There was a walkway to SeaWorld but they also had bus service. There were dining places on site, as well as right across the street.

I would say Universal to Sea World is maybe 10-15 minutes. Not sure if there was bus service from our hotel to Universal.

I would think that you could take a Taxi (the hotel can call for one for you) and they will ask home many people. The one we took while we were there was actually a Ford Excursion, but there are vans also. Not certain of the cost, but would be the most direct route.

I agree with you that moving after the short stay would probably be the easiest.

Hope that helped some.

 

[MommyBryn]

We just got back for Sea World and had a great time. We stayed at the DoubleTree @ Sea World. They had a great deal for rooms and tickets. There was a walkway to SeaWorld but they also had bus service. There were dining places on site, as well as right across the street.

I would say Universal to Sea World is maybe 10-15 minutes. Not sure if there was bus service from our hotel to Universal.

I would think that you could take a Taxi (the hotel can call for one for you) and they will ask home many people. The one we took while we were there was actually a Ford Excursion, but there are vans also. Not certain of the cost, but would be the most direct route.

I agree with you that moving after the short stay would probably be the easiest.

Hope that helped some.

Thank you so much! Did you use the "dine free" plan that I have seen a few things about? How does the cost of food there compare to the cost at Disney, do you think? Seems to me that Disney will probably be the most expensive in every aspect because, well...they're Disney and they can. But I don't want to be thinking that SW and Universal are always cheaper and then arrive to a surprise!

 

[vacation_junkie]

I am x-posting this in hopes of getting more relevant replies for each resort. This one for Sea World, obviously. If you read this thread in the Universal forum, it's the same questions.

We're considering splitting our vacation between Disney and Sea World/Universal. (plan to go to both of those, but only actually STAY at one or the other) We've visited them during Disney trips before but only stayed on Disney property. FWIW, we'd be at SW or Universal for the FIRST part of the vacation...unless it would be easier to do it the other way and do Disney first?? It *seems* like it would be easiest to start out with the shorter stay (2-3 days) and end with the longer one (6ish days), but perhaps there is more benefit to doing it the other way around? It seems like it may even be cheaper than staying the full time at Disney.

I'm sure there's someone else out there who's done this, so I have a few questions. First, which resort is best for staying AT Sea World? Walking distance... How about dining while there? Basically any on-site info would be helpful, as SW is the place I've been able to collect the least information on.

How far away is Universal from SW? Is there a bus route between them?

What kind of transportation did you use to get from Sea World to Disney WITH all of your luggage? I know there is a bus route but can't do that with luggage, obviously. Renting a car is out, because that would mean hauling 4 carseats on our cross country flight, among other things, the cost included. I hate going w/o carseats but we've done a bus in Orlando before so I know it's a possibility, just not sure what our options WITH luggage are. Does Mears do that and if so, cost ideas? (we've used them from the airport before) Honestly though, if carseats are the deal breaker we just won't bother staying anywhere but Disney.

Disney is easy. But as far as accomodations, the rest I have no experience with.

Thanks for any help!!

Check out Springhill Suites Sea World! Great reviews.
We are going to do a split stay in January.
We are staying at HRH for 2 nights and doing Universal & IOA.
Then we are checking into our Disney Hotel for 6 nights. We will check out Sea World on one of those Disney days.

We always rent a car.
There are so many discount codes out there to be able to find a reasonable car.

I like having the freedom to drive from park to park, visit the disney outlet , Stop at Walmart and pick up some water and snacks for the room...and to have a place to store our luggage before we head back to the airport on check out day.

 

[dprincessmom]

Thank you so much! Did you use the "dine free" plan that I have seen a few things about? How does the cost of food there compare to the cost at Disney, do you think? Seems to me that Disney will probably be the most expensive in every aspect because, well...they're Disney and they can. But I don't want to be thinking that SW and Universal are always cheaper and then arrive to a surprise!

We actually did buy adult, get kid free (available thru the Sea World official partner hotel link). Food seemed to be on par price wise with Disney. Hot Dog (no chips or drink) was $5.00; Pretzel and Cheese was $5; they did have a great deal on drinks buy a collectible cup (cup/clash sprots mug kind of thing) for $7.00 and refills were $1.00. This was good at both Sea World and Aquatica. I would just use the same food budget per day as you do at Disney, then no surprises.

They are also very strict with food that can be brought in. Seems like if it was single serving size they were ok (I had 2 granola bars and 2 packs of peanut butter crackers in my bag). I have heard (and the guy working the QQ desk at our hotel said) that they would take food and disgard.

One last thing that might be important - the first return bus was at 1 from both SW and Aquatica. Not certain how that fits into nap time.

Have a great time.

 

[MommyBryn]

Check out Springhill Suites Sea World! Great reviews.
We are going to do a split stay in January.
We are staying at HRH for 2 nights and doing Universal & IOA.
Then we are checking into our Disney Hotel for 6 nights. We will check out Sea World on one of those Disney days.

We always rent a car.
There are so many discount codes out there to be able to find a reasonable car.

I like having the freedom to drive from park to park, visit the disney outlet , Stop at Walmart and pick up some water and snacks for the room...and to have a place to store our luggage before we head back to the airport on check out day.

Thanks! I will certainly check that one out!

Unfortunately it's just not worth it for us to try and rent a car if we're staying on-site anywhere, because it's got to seat at least 6-7, and lugging the carseats all down would be a pain in the rear. (At least 4 of them, and I don't feel comfortable checking them (damage), we don't buy the littles their own seat but don't want to haul the seats from plane to plane anyway, etc) If there were less of us and our flight wasn't cross country, or our children were out of the carseats, I may consider it more seriously.

 

[FreeThinker]

I also have a big family, but we drive b/c it just isn't reasonable to haul to many carseats. I looked into it a couple of years ago, and Disney had the best no-carseat-needed travel. If you rent, you have to take your carseats or you can rent carseats, but they do not gurantee there will be the correct ones there. Some car rental places I called at Orlando Airport did have them, but it was first-come, first-served. I was not comfortable w/ that, I am pretty picky w/ carseats. I did find out FL had a very low age for boosters or getting out of boosters. If I were you, I would just do Disney and do Universal/SW another time. Your siggy doesn't say how old your kids are, but if they are all in booster/carseats, they won't be able to ride a lot of stuff at Universal anyway. SW would still be fun, but for the $$ you are better off spending more days at Disney and doing maybe a Disney water park or just resort days.

As for how far apart things are, SW was about 20 minutes from Disney on interstate. Universal was around the same.

THe first year we went, I had 5 kids from 1 to 9, and we did Disney 4 days, DC and SW. It was too much (and costs quite a bit for those 2 days). THis year we just did Disney, and next year we plan to do SW/BG. I will also be down to just one carseat and 2 boosters next year! We just stay 6 days, and one of those 2 options is enough for us. There is so much else to do in the area, and the resorts are so nice, you don't have to go to a park everyday.

 

[MommyBryn]

I also have a big family, but we drive b/c it just isn't reasonable to haul to many carseats. I looked into it a couple of years ago, and Disney had the best no-carseat-needed travel. If you rent, you have to take your carseats or you can rent carseats, but they do not gurantee there will be the correct ones there. Some car rental places I called at Orlando Airport did have them, but it was first-come, first-served. I was not comfortable w/ that, I am pretty picky w/ carseats. I did find out FL had a very low age for boosters or getting out of boosters. If I were you, I would just do Disney and do Universal/SW another time. Your siggy doesn't say how old your kids are, but if they are all in booster/carseats, they won't be able to ride a lot of stuff at Universal anyway. SW would still be fun, but for the $$ you are better off spending more days at Disney and doing maybe a Disney water park or just resort days.

As for how far apart things are, SW was about 20 minutes from Disney on interstate. Universal was around the same.

THe first year we went, I had 5 kids from 1 to 9, and we did Disney 4 days, DC and SW. It was too much (and costs quite a bit for those 2 days). THis year we just did Disney, and next year we plan to do SW/BG. I will also be down to just one carseat and 2 boosters next year! We just stay 6 days, and one of those 2 options is enough for us. There is so much else to do in the area, and the resorts are so nice, you don't have to go to a park everyday.

Thanks! I am picky about carseats, too. I can't imagine being within driving distance of Disney...that sounds amazingly fun!!!!

The thing is, we only get to go to Disney once every 2-3 years, and this next trip may be the last one for quite some time, so there's not much of a "next time", hence trying to combine the trips. We're planning on visiting Uni/SW no matter what, but initially it was just to do like we had in the past- stay at Disney and take a day to go to SW and a day to do Universal (or choose between the two, if it came to that...but at least day, regardless). But I was trying to play around with other possibilities.

 

[thr33boys]

Thanks! I am picky about carseats, too. I can't imagine being within driving distance of Disney...that sounds amazingly fun!!!!

The thing is, we only get to go to Disney once every 2-3 years, and this next trip may be the last one for quite some time, so there's not much of a "next time", hence trying to combine the trips. We're planning on visiting Uni/SW no matter what, but initially it was just to do like we had in the past- stay at Disney and take a day to go to SW and a day to do Universal (or choose between the two, if it came to that...but at least day, regardless). But I was trying to play around with other possibilities.

We will be visiting US, SW and Disney as well on our trip in Dec. We are renting points from an owner to stay at AKV and I am still on the fence regarding renting a car or taking a taxi. We will do 2 days at US/IoA and 1 day at SW. Because this trip kinda came out of nowhere and I was at the 7 month window, I was more concerned about securing our rental with the owner and hadn't really put thought into staying elsewhere. If I could go back, I probably would have done a split stay at Universal to take advantage of the express pass.

 

[AndreaA]

We are currently staying at the Renaissance Sea World hotel and will be moving to Wilderness Lodge Villas in three days.

So far the Renaissance has been great (only been here for one evening though!) with a very comfy and large room with king-sized bed and pull-out sofa for our boys, nice bathroom with double sinks and plenty of counter space, a number of restaurants in the hotel and a fabulous pool and waterpark area with three water slides and tons of splash stuff.

There are shuttles to Sea World, Aquatica, and Universal Studios although technically SW is right across the street and we could walk there.

It's also ridiculous how much cheaper this place is than Wilderness Lodge. I think the total bill is $550 for the three nights, give or take, and that INCLUDES length of stay tickets to SW and Aquatica, and we got the "kids go free" deal on the tickets.

 

[Magalex]

We are currently staying at the Renaissance Sea World hotel and will be moving to Wilderness Lodge Villas in three days.

So far the Renaissance has been great (only been here for one evening though!) with a very comfy and large room with king-sized bed and pull-out sofa for our boys, nice bathroom with double sinks and plenty of counter space, a number of restaurants in the hotel and a fabulous pool and waterpark area with three water slides and tons of splash stuff.

There are shuttles to Sea World, Aquatica, and Universal Studios although technically SW is right across the street and we could walk there.

It's also ridiculous how much cheaper this place is than Wilderness Lodge. I think the total bill is $550 for the three nights, give or take, and that INCLUDES length of stay tickets to SW and Aquatica, and we got the "kids go free" deal on the tickets.

So nice to read a happy guest at the Renaissance. We usually our WDW on-site summer visitors but next year(June 2014) we are switching it up and having a Sea Worlde/Aquatica vacation. We may skip over to the WDW parks on some days but we are making our home base at the Renaissance. We will rent a car. So it seems the Renaissance is a very nice hotel for a Orlando 7 day vacation!

 

[AndreaA]

So nice to read a happy guest at the Renaissance. We usually our WDW on-site summer visitors but next year(June 2014) we are switching it up and having a Sea Worlde/Aquatica vacation. We may skip over to the WDW parks on some days but we are making our home base at the Renaissance. We will rent a car. So it seems the Renaissance is a very nice hotel for a Orlando 7 day vacation!

Now that our stay there is over, I can reiterate that it was awesome. I actually worried that our boys (age 4) would complain about no longer having the cool waterslides. Luckily they love VWL too. That hotel will definitely be a front-runner when the boys are more Universal Studios aged.

A bit more about the restaurants:

The "sports bar" (located in the center of the lobby, and mostly open to the rest of the lobby) served good sandwiches, etc.. The pool bar had a similar menu. The fancier restaurant, Tradewinds, had a very nice dinner menu (I had a fabulous swordfish dish) and great breakfast buffet. There is also a Starbucks located right in the lobby and the room service is very good - unlike some hotels I've been to.

We did end up walking back from SeaWorld one afternoon, and it was an easy trek, even in 90+degree heat and humidity.