Disney Loving Peas / Universal Loving Peas

F&G is so, so good!  Be sure to have a Violet Lemonade for me. 

Some specific questions maybe someone can answer:
1. We plan to indulge and eat out lots, but we don't want super expensive eats. Recommendations? Must try's? We will have a kitchenette in each resort, so which meal of the day should we eat in? Where would we buy groceries? Being Canadian, I don't even know Florida grocery stores.
Already been answered. You can find more specifics about your resort if you check out the DISboards forum specific to your hotel. They usually have people who have stayed recently and can tell you how their experience was with drop off, etc. I, personally, did my own shopping when we flew in. We used a driver to pick us up at the airport, stopped at Publix, then went to our hotel. However, we are very early birds, so it was not crowded at all and it was pre-Covid, so I wasn't worried about them not having something.

2. We'll have 2 days without theme parks (the day we transition between sites, and the final day of our trip we fly out late). Any recommended field trips for those days? With 5 days at Universal, you should have PLENTY of time to do it all. Between early entry and (I'm assuming) Express Passes, you'll be able to get on and see everything easy peasy. There's some construction going on (building more Minions stuff and taking down Fievel's Playground), but should be good to go. If you plan to ride Hagrid's, best to get to the park 30-45 minutes BEFORE early entry. Stand at the turnstiles - in November there were the middle ones and the ones to the far left open - and then if you're first in line, they'll actually scan your pass before they do the open the gate ceremony. Your party will just be able to start the long walk back to Hagrid's. Keep your passes out, if they're not no lanyards, because they'll check for the hotel park key (each of you will have one) to get through the second set of checkers, usually in Seussland. When you get closer to Hagrid's, there will be a person standing with a sign so you know where to enter the queue.

I totally agree with going to Disney Springs for a day. Be warned that if you get there when they "open", you'll be stuck in the garage to go through security first. I'd check out the map first so you have a general idea of where you'd like to eat and can plan accordingly, otherwise you'll be stuck in a long line and starving. I'd also download the park apps for both parks and do all the signing up and linking of tickets. Universal's app has "Universal Pay" so you can add a credit card to it and pay that way at most places. This is especially helpful if you want to ride the rides and skip the lockers for bags. There are only a few you can't bring a phone either, so no bags will speed you up significantly. Disney's app has a mobile pay feature, but it's only at certain stores. For sure, you can use it at the huge Disney store in Disney Springs. It'll save you a ton of time in the line to checkout and there are signs at the entrances so you know where to go to bag up.

3. Weather in Florida the last week of April: will we need shorts or pants? Sandals or sneakers? No-sleeve shirts are my fave, but will I be warm enough? Should we have hoodies for the evenings or does it stay warm? Umbrellas? We went in April 2017 and I was hot later in the day.

4. How would you coordinate clothing for different park days and photo opportunities? My kids and DH will humor me although they're all adults! I know our SB lines like to push the black, yellow, red, and white themes. Those don't actually show up in the parks, so skip that. I don't like to wear exact matching t-shirts. So at Universal, we would wear the same style but our own house shirts. When we went to Magic Kingdom, we each had a different emotion from "Inside Out". When I made our shirts, one of them said "Don't stop believin'" with Mickey heads and Minnie bows, but we had different colored shirts. Shimelle and her son do some amazing outfits, but I am a t-shirt and leggings person and so are my kids.

EPCOT F&G is amazing. As I said to Blemon, enjoy the Violet Lemonade. Unless you don't like lemonade. I loved it. Definitely get a feel for the kiosks that will be out so you don't overindulge at one and miss another later in the loop. Although, during Food and Wine the portions were so tiny, you could probably try one of everything and be okay.

Don't hesitate to explore. Especially at Disney. You can go anywhere at other resorts. Just leave your car and use the monorail, skyliner, bus, or walk.

Have all the fun!!!

Dining reservations are mostly a pass for us. We don't enjoy taking a while to eat, so if that's your thing, I'd recommend just glancing at the menus (through the app) and basing your decisions on that. Disney Food Blog (and others) are great for deep dives, but it's definitely overwhelming. Especially if you factor in, as was mentioned, anything can happen. You could be ready to eat and a water line breaks and the restaurant closes. I use a notebook and after we figured out park days (we did 1 day at each park, 2 at Hollywood and MK) and then had a general idea of what we would eat. Then when you're there, something shiny shows up and we just roll with it. Not having reservations allows us to do that though. The only exception we made for dining reservations was when we absolutely wanted to meet a character. Akershus Breakfast (in 2020) was the best way to knock out all our princess photos/autographs AND then hop on Frozen with no wait. This last trip we did Toppolino's because we wanted to meet Minnie in a different outfit and it seemed the best way and worked out because they yanked her in her 50th outfit a short time before our trip.

I also keep a tiny notebook for each day and would refer to that the night before / morning of for reservations for rides and possible places to eat. It is a lot. Some people do spreadsheets and some people wing it and some do a combination. You know your group best.