How many days would I need to go to all of the Disney World Parks including the water parks plus Universal Stu?

Your estimate for Disney is probably good, but you could do it in less if you really tried to. I have taken a one day trip to Disney World before and was able to get on almost all the big name rides at all the parks except Animal Kingdom in that one day, but after that I was completely burnt out. Also that was during the off season so the parks were not crowded either. Overall I think 10 days is fair, but you could probably do it all in 8 if you really wanted to. My main advice is to get the park hopper because after lunch time at Magic Kingdom, it will be packed until about an hour before park closes. If you go to a different park for the afternoon hours you will be much better off. Epcot is a great park for adults and older kids. World Showcase doesn't have much as far as rides, but you could easily spend two days experiencing everything it has to offer. Disney is extremely well themed, so there is a lot to see in all the details of all the parks as well. Must dos for each park are:

Animal Kingdom: Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, DINOSAUR, Kilamanjaro Safari, Finding Nemo: The Musical

Hollywood Studios: Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller Coaster, Lights Motors Action Stunt Show, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania

Epcot: Test Track, Mission:Space, Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy(its long but very entertaining), Maelstrom, Gran Fiesta Tour, O' Canada

Magic Kingdom: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Ranger Spin, Journey of the Little Mermaid( slow moving, but an incredible ride), Haunted Mansion.

Typhoon Lagoon: If you are a good swimmer try body surfing in the wave pool. There is a board near the entrance of the wave pool that lists the times there are surf waves.(Bring goggles for this)

Blizzard Beach: Be sure to hit up Summit Plummit first thing in the morning as it gets quite crowded later in the day.

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Your Universal estimate is probably a bit high. When I've gone, I've gotten both parks done in one day. Universal is much smaller than Disney. One other thing worth mentioning about Universal is that a significant number of Universal's rides are motion simulators, so if those aren't your thing, one day is plenty of time there. My advice here is to definitely check out the Harry Potter part of Islands of Adventure as its theme-ing is on par with Disney's. Must dos:

Universal Studios Park: ET, The Mummy, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Men in Black

Islands of Adventure: Wizarding World, Incredible Hulk, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls

Just want to cleat up some things. There is no place called Harry Potter World. It is a sector at a Universal Resorts theme park called Islands of Adventure. Also i seem to believe that you like many other visitors think that Disney World is some kind of a State Fair or amusement park. I see no problem with kiddie rides. In all the four Disney theme parks there are only 12, what you might call roller coaster types. Much more emphasis on parades - shows and fireworks. I do hope you and your family have budgeted all your expenses for your trip/ You are planning a 14 day trup for 5 adults. That would mean 70 paying days at the parks. Many think $200 a day per person per day for tickets, hotel,

food and anything unforeseen is possible. That means your trip could possibly cost close to $14000,without expensive souvenirs.

For all of the Disney, from my experience despite never having been to any of the water parks, I would say about five to six days, I think. Because the main parks should take about 3-4 days visitation. Universal though can usually be done in two to three days tops, since it's actually a bit smaller. You can cover all of the main Universal park in one day, even if you ride certain rides more than once, and you can cover the Islands of Adventure Universal Park in about a day, as well.

But I don't recommend skipping the "kiddie" rides at Disney. They might not sound appealing, but the true spirit of Walt Disney is for people of all ages. Not to mention many of those "kiddie" rides are showcases of original Walt Disney innovations and technological inventions which are pretty astounding. If you're going to Disney and you skip everything like "Peter Pan's Flight", "It's A Small World", and "Dumbo", there isn't much difference between Disney and your average theme park, because you'll see that skipping those takes away a lot of the magic.

For instance, Peter Pan's Flight was the very first dark ride ever to use a "flight" system, because that was one of Disney's first inventions. I mean, I'm 20 and I can still enjoy little things like that, and I don't see whats wrong if you're my age or older and you still enjoy a good Walt Disney classic, either.

Believe me, you say you'll skip that stuff now, but wait until you get there and see it for yourselves. This is coming from someone who has asked three times to be taken to Disney for her birthday, and gotten to go each time and has always enjoyed everything truly Disney.

I think you are more on target with 10 days for Disney than most of the respondents. I spent far more time there than that and still didn't see everything. The more you go, the more you discover. It's been years since I've been to Universal but I suspect 4 days is plenty of time for those two parks. Keep in mind too that you may want to spend more than one day at each water park.

Have a great trip!

First of all I'd like to say you've got a bit of a misconception with the "Skipping the kiddie style rides"

There are lots of fun rides that you might count off as Kiddie rides, like Dumbo or Whinnie the Pooh. I'm not saying you want to go on every single ride there, but never pass over something because it looks too young. You're at Disney afterall.

Anyway, ten days at Disney would give you one day in each park (including water parks) and four days to revisit parks you're more interested in. That sounds pretty good. You'll be able to hit the high-lights in each park and not rush yourself.

Yeah, four for universal is probably fine but I personally wouldn't do more than three. Two for IOA and one for Universal. That's just me though, I'm not overly thrilled by a lot of Universal's stuff. If there's a ton you want to do spend all four there.

Magic Kingdom-1, Epcot-1, Animal Kingdom-1, MGM-1, Typhoon Lagoon-1, Blizzard Beach-1, Downtown Disney-1, Universal Studios- 2 (at the most), island of Adventure-2 (at the most), plus one day for arrival (most likely can't do that much in that day, so go to a park that you like). For a total of 12 days at the most. There are a lot of rides that seem to be kiddy style rides, but don't count them out. However, in Universal Studios, there are a few kiddy rides and shows, so you may not want to watch or ride those. Another solution would be to divide the water parks into 1 day. Like going to one park from arrival til lunch than the other from lunch to end of the day.

I would say 8 days tops for Disney - 1 each for Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon, and then 2 days each for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

You can pretty easily do Universal in 2 days, no more than 3.

So that would be about 10-11 days total. Maybe take a 2-week trip and give yourselves some rest days.

you're going to the wrong places if you want as many thrill rides crammed into as small of a space as possible!

MOST attractions at disney world and universal for that matter are family friendly and slow moving mild rides with child friendly themes.

you would be doing yourself a big injustice if you skipped 90% of the attractions just cuz you saw them as "kiddie rides".

disney world:

-magic kingdom: 2 days

-epcot: 1-1/2 days

-hollywood studios: 1 day

-animal kingdom: 3/4 of a day

-typhoon lagoon: 3/4 of a day

-blizzard beach: 3/4 of a day

that would be 8 days

universal orlando:

-universal studios: 1 day

-islands of adventure: 1 day

that would be 2 days.

that is 10 days total for theme parks/water parks

then i would recommend AT LEAST one relax day where you just sleep in, swim at the hotel, go to downtown disney for the afternoon/evening... considering that you "want to do it all" i'd recommend a good 3 days in there for relaxing.

Wow! First of all, that sounds like a great trip, and you are all very lucky!

Ok, so I'm going to try and do my best to include all the parks and all the Must Do's for each park :)

Ok, so the 4 main Disney parks are Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studious, and Epcot. There are also two Disney water parks Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.

From my experience, the only Disney park that you really can't complete in 1 day is Magic Kingdom. I would advise two days for that park, especially because it is so popular and you will find yourself waiting in line for several rides for very long amounts of time. However, Magic Kingdom is loaded with small kiddie style rides, so that may only take you 1 day. At Magic Kingdom, what you definitely must do is the 3 mountains: Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain.

Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot each take 1 day to complete in my experience.

In Animal Kingdom, you must do Expedition Everest and at least either the Finding Nemo or Lion King shows which are absolutely fantastic shows that are Broadway style. Animal Kingdom is structured like a large zoo. There aren't many rides.

Hollywood Studios is definitely the best of the Disney parks for 18 year old kids. They would definitely enjoy the Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror if they are into roller coasters. That park also has a wonderful night show called Fantasmic.

Epcot is essentially an "around the world experience". There is a section for a variety of countries such as Italy, Japan, Germany, France, China, Canada, UK, etc. This park may take you 2 days if you really want to explore all the countries, but in my experience, I am usually able to complete it in 1 day.

Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are both very fun Disney themed water parks that take 1 day each.

Universal Studios takes 1 day. If you go, you must do Rip-Ride Rockit, The Simpsons, Despicable Me, ET, and Shrek 4-D for sure!

In my experience, Islands of Adventures takes 2 days. One day is for the park, and the other day is exclusively for Harry Potter World. If you are fans of Harry Potter world, then believe me, you will want to have the whole day just for that part of the park.

So that's 7 days for Disney Parks and 3 for Universal/Islands.

I also want to recommend spending a day at Downtown Disney, which is the shopping center. It's so fun for the whole family. I would also recommend seeing if you could catch some shows. My favorite is the La Nouba Cirque de Soleil show which is in Downtown Disney and is absolutely stunning!

And finally, if you have any extra days, I recommend you check out some of the following parks/attractions as well: SeaWorld, Aquatica (water park), Discovery Cove, Kennedy Space Center, Busch Gardens (which is in Tampa, so a longer drive)

Also, you definitely want to load up on water and sunscreen! Wear comfortable clothes and shoes and prepare for a lot of walking! You might also want to bring some umbrellas or ponchos. Last time I went to Disney, it rained, and many people were stuck walking in the rain for a while.

And one more thing! Take advantage of the Fast Pass option as much as you can! Waiting in those lines in the heat can be boring and uncomfortable.

I hope you enjoy your Florida trip!

One park each day would be 8 days. Disney has 4 theme parks and 2 water parks and universal has 2 theme parks