We are heading to Orlando for a family wedding in August and have a few days afterwards and would love to hit a combination of Disney/Universal/Legoland. We are a family of 9 so are looking for some tips on saving money and time!!

AMA May have some deals for entry to the various places

When we went to Orlando a few years ago we used Ridemax. It saved us a lot of money and less time standing in lineups. Here’s the link:
https://ridemax.com
RIDEMAX.COM
RideMax - Planning Software for Walt Disney World and Disneyland

Just came back from Orlando. IMO if you have teens don’t bother going to Disney, long lines and no way to buy your way out. Universal studios fast pass or express line is better and rides are much better.

Volcano bay water park at universal theme parks is super fun! Had a blast and it’s not as expensive as the other theme parks and hardly any wait lines. 5x better than wem water park. Also recommend universal studios Harry Potter world is really fun. Definitely prebook the tickets because they get sold out fast. At Disney, go really early and line up for Star Wars smugglers run the first, it’s the longest lineup for sure and breaks down by noon.

Elaine Agree with the Harry Potter at universal, it was very well done.
Regarding Disney world's star wars, we stayed at a Disney resort & went during their extra magic hours for resort people & the Stars wars smuggler's run was literally a walk on ride. Took us about 5 minutes to walk through to the ride. The extra magic hours are awesome for getting on all the rides. We noticed that when the park was open to the public, that same rode was at least a 180minute wait.

Universal hands down over Disney. I love Disney as a whole, but would never do Disneyworld again. Universal was so much better.

I went to Disney in May and it was absolutely packed lineups could be an hour to an hour and a half if you do the speed passes at the time they were 450 US each food was not so great but very very expensive universal was OK Seaworld was just OK they locked staff so there was kind of garbage everywhere and it looked a little rundown maybe because of that I’m not sure air canada stopped our direct flight so we had to go through Toronto which was actually a disaster lost their luggage coming back from Florida to Toronto they had nobody to park the plane so we could get off that took an hour and a half because they have no staff so it’s a real shit show

Shailyn Bennett

Cabana Bay was great accommodation near Universal

Dont forget the mcdonalds, the have pizza and pasta.

My in-laws are Disney vacation club owners, so we have been there 6 times in the last 13 years. We just returned in May 2022. I would suggest staying at a Disney resort & then using their Disney transportion to get to/from parks - either by boat, skyline, tram or their extensive bus network. They have magic hours where Disney resort people will have entry into parks before they open up to the public. In the year that star wars opened, we had 3 hours/day of magic hours and truly it was great. We were at the parks 6am-9am, then when parks opened up for the public we returned to resort to rest/swim. August will be hot & being at the parks during the mid-day was truly unbearable. So the early mornings & evening were best. You should download the MyDisneyExperience App, you can do mobile orders & then swing by to pick up food. You can also use app to check wait times - on our last trip we did not have to pay for their lightning lanes or genie pass because we used the app & did the extra magic hours. My daughter got on all the rides - rocking roller coaster 3 times, slinky dog, expedition everest 2 times, seven dwarfs mine train, Peter pan flight... The park passes go down in price the more days you book too. So on our last trip we got 5 days, with park Hopper for about $695.

Stay at one of the universal hotels that give you the fast pass. You get it for each day you are there for each guest registered to your room huge perk

Universal will cost you your life's fortunes. My and my fiance went for 1 day park to park with express pass. $1300 Canadian

But also.. I recommend the $300 express pass
useless to go without

Costco may have tickets

For your park days pack a lunch and bring water bottles. Universal sells refillable cups for the slushie and soda stations completely worth it with multiple kids you can also get the refillable popcorn bucket. When we ate out for dinner I would check around find kids eat free, or lots had sign up and get percentage off or free food. Bring sunscreen from Canada more expensive in florida. On one of our trips we went to an orange grove called showcase of citrus they still talk about it. Cheap and good way to spend a day between parks.

We were there in early March (first time) - first time I can say I was disappointed in a Disney Park (and it is supposed to be the 50th). Universal was far better (not including the price - but that makes it so much better as the tickets are also cheaper). Crowds were far better at Universal as well.