My experience is different....I have 10x more fun at Disney because of the way WDW is run. Like someone else said, think Six Flags when you think of Universal. I went once and honestly have no desire to go back to Universal, and I will admit it is part personal preference, and part how the 2 places are run differently.

Perfect analogy....

Not too interested in chippendale hot dogs. ;)

We'll have to try it, EPCOT is my favorite park out of them all just because of the insane amount of things you can experience and the fireworks show is stellar. We ate at the Aquarium Coral Reef restaurant and even though it was amazing views while eating the food wasn't that great. We'll head over there next time and give it a go, thanks for the recommendation.

The Wild Africa Trek is way too expensive for what it is. I'm glad we did it, but we will never do it again.

Festival of the Lion King is currently closed.

Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure is awesome. However, the new Harry Potter area at Universal Orlando isn't open yet. It's close, but not yet.

If you do go to WDW, get your tickets and reservations now so that you can book your Fastpasses before you go. Why no Epcot? I would split Hollywood Studios and AK in a single day and spend the third day at Epcot. Do Animal Kingdom in the morning (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Tough to be a Bug) and then head to DHS for the afternoon and evening. Book your Fastpasses for DHS and avoid the line for Toy Story. Do Rock'n'Roller coaster, Star tours, toy story, tower of terror and then watch Fantasmic.

The dining plan is a ripoff. Avoid it.

Summer is almost here. These places will be packed and making millions.

Solid advice, all of it. Especially the dining plan, don't do it.

AK is definitely a 1/2 day for me, morning before it's too humid. Studios is easily a full day but if your whole trip is short the 1/2 day hopper AK&HS is the way to go, full days for MK and Epcot.

We're goin in 40 days, Beach Club. 1st evening trip is the back door of Epcot for Fish n Chips and a Black n Tan @ the pub. Be my 1st trip w/ the oldest son 21+, very much lookin forward to buyin my boy and I a couple beers and people watchin!

I agree it is pricey.....but it's no different than what you pay for if you do the Richard Petty Driving Experience...or go play any of the Disney Courses...or do the Fishing Expedition.

Any extra at WDW is going to cost. And it's usually something you do only once.

EPCOT has the most under-rated and under-recommended ride in all of WDW....Soarin'....

The Coral Reef is like a lot of WDW these days, especially the front part of EPCOT....in dire need of an update. The Test Track is nice, but beyond that and Soarin' it's really hard to get excited about EPCOT. Even the nightly fireworks display could use an update. It's nice...but, still.

The dining plan...completely agree. Been many times and have done better with buying my meals without the plan.

The best and most fun time to go to DHS is during the Star Wars Weekends. Although it is packed as it can be, there is so much more to do and characters to see....

I would say the only codicil to what you have said is to mix in what are the days that each Park has additional hours for on-property guests. We've been so many times that we have it down to an art on how to maximize our experience and see/ride what we want to. The only thing that will change for us in June and again in November is experiencing Magic Kingdom with all the changes for the first time.

We get the Park Hopper passes for the full time we are there...that way we go where we want when we want. Park Hopper isn't for everyone...

We didn't even do EPCOT with my family (which I kind of feel bad about). I think that a lot of what I liked was dictated by the fact I was there with a 5 and 7 year old. I didn't like Universal Studios much. The main reason we went was to do the Star Wars stuff, and the Star Wars ride made us all horribly nauseated (the kids getting to fight Vader was fun, of course). Tower of Terror wasn't that great, and my youngest son was too small to do the Aerosmith rock and roll ride.

So yeah, one of the reasons we might have liked AK is because our kids really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was also just really cool there as well.

The one thing I wish is that it was more cost effective for my family to stay on property. With 6 in the family & the oldest bringing a friend, it is too expensive to stay on property. We are driving it as well because flying all of us down is just to much.

My kids were around that age and then a year or two older, each when we went. We skipped Epcot, too. We go Magic Kingdom/AK/Magic Kingdom for the 3 days.