Favorite Disney World park for older kids? Universal?

[Anonymous]

We'll have a free day in Orlando before leaving for Port Canaveral for a cruise over spring break. Kids are 11 and 8. They do enjoy higher thrill rides, but also theming, characters, etc.

Thinking of Hollywood Studios or maybe doing the two park pass at Universal.

[Anonymous]

Two park pass to universal. Hands down.

[Anonymous]

I would do Universal but I'm not a big Disney fan so YMMV. What are your kids into? If they like Harry Potter, go to Universal. if they like Pixar, Star Wars or Marvel, they may prefer Hollywood Studios.

[Anonymous]

Universal did a really good job with the design for Harry Potter.

Honestly Disney's stagnating as they've cut a lot of the stuff that made the parks special.

[Anonymous]

100% Universal. Our 8 year old vastly preferred all the HP stuff to anything disney.

[Anonymous]

Have they've been to Disney before? I think you should do Magic Kingdom or if they are very much into Star Wars, Hollywood Studios.

[Anonymous]

If you want very thrilling, scary coasters, you need to go to Universal. Otherwise I'd probably do Hollywood Studios but you will definitely need Lightening Lane Multi Pass.

[Anonymous]

Universal is hands down better than Disney. If you're on the fence, choose Universal.

[Anonymous]

And what makes Universal a no brainer is they still have an express lane for any guests that stay at their three highest tear resorts. For our family of four, the room was 500 night last February. You can get the express pass through your check in and check out - you still need to buy park admission. Not sure if you already have a place to stay, but if not this is a nice way to do it. The Harry Potter stuff is awesome, my kids were 11 and 13 at the time, but we did both parks with the express pass in two days. Hagrid's Bike Adventure is the only ride that does not allow express passes and it is awesome, but often has mechanical issues.

[Anonymous]

tier not tear...ugh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And what makes Universal a no brainer is they still have an express lane for any guests that stay at their three highest tear resorts. For our family of four, the room was 500 night last February. You can get the express pass through your check in and check out - you still need to buy park admission. Not sure if you already have a place to stay, but if not this is a nice way to do it. The Harry Potter stuff is awesome, my kids were 11 and 13 at the time, but we did both parks with the express pass in two days. Hagrid's Bike Adventure is the only ride that does not allow express passes and it is awesome, but often has mechanical issues.

It will be nearly double that during Spring Break when OP is going.

[Anonymous]

We’ve done Universal and Disney recently with outlets tween and he preferred universal. The rides are more thrilling and the environment more immersive. Plus I liked their fast pass more, you don’t have to make reservations so you can pretty much go in order. The park feels smaller too but not in a bad way. The shows are fun too