Disney park or Universal/IOA at the weekends?

[c3h3a3r]

Hi, apologies if this isn't in the right place. Am looking at various crowd calenders, trying to plan our trip (14 nights end July), can anyone tell me if it's busier at a Disney Park or at the Universal parks on a Saturday and Sunday? Common sense is saying Universal would be less crowded. TIA.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Bump

 

[c3h3a3r]

Any help please??

 

[snowybelle]

How many days will you be at the WDW parks vs how many days will be doing Universal?

I would say Magic Kingdom will be MORE crowded than Universal any day of the week. However, especially on weekends, Universal parks will likely be as crowded (maybe more) than any of the other 3 WDW parks.

If you have many days at WDW, and just ONE day at Universal, I would visit Universal on a weekday and get there EARLY, especially if you are Harry Potter fans.

I'm not an expert, but have been to Universal and WDW several times very recently. Universal does not see the huge crowds that WDW (especially MK) does, however those parks also do not handle crowds as well as WDW does. So it still "feels" quite crowded even though there many not be as many people actually in the park, if that makes sense.

 

[PrincessNelly]

They both get busy on weekends. Avoid MK on the weekends but other parks should be manageable.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/ is a great crowd calendar and free.

https://touringplans.com is one of my favorite because of the personalized planners, however you will need to pay for a subscription. There are a few coupon codes out there that will save $3-$5 off.

http://www.easywdw.com/ is great and in my opinion, has one of the most accurate Disney crowd calendars. They are also free.

 

[snowybelle]

I will also add:

Universal does not have nearly the number of attractions as Disney (MK in particular), so the lines at the headliners get VERY long because crowds are much less spread out. Unlike Disney, there is also no free FastPass option unless you are staying on site, so you have to wait it out with everyone else, and/or get there super early, and/or ride close to park close. They do have an Express Pass that you can purchase (very $$ though!) which will get you to the front of the line on everything except the 2 big Harry Potter attractions. So I would say, choose a weekday, get there early, and have a plan/priorities for sure!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Thank you. I have looked at all of the above crowd calenders but only one included universal and islands of adventure....We are going for 14 nights and our tickets cover both the Disney parks and the 2 universal parks. We were planning 2 days for universal and 2 days islands and the rest Disney (with water parks as 'rest' days. This will be our second family trop to Disney

 

[snowybelle]

Oh, with 2 days at Universal and 2 days at IoA, you should have MORE than enough time to see it all. Still, if Harry Potter is a priority, go on weekdays and arrive *before* the park opens, and make a bee-line straight back to the Harry Potter section before it gets totally insane.

 

[Hootch]

Are you planning to stay at one of the Universal deluxe resorts? We stayed at Universal the Saturday and Sunday after Memorial Day. With the Express Pass, we were able to do everything that we wanted on those two days and still have time for a leisurely dinner both days. Some rides built up quickly in the morning, especially Despicable me and Rip Ride Rocket. My experience is that the single rider lines for HP are fairly short late in the day.

There is a Universal forum on this site with very helpful posters.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Thank you. We are staying off property. We are Harry Potter mad lol

 

[catfan98]

Thank you. We are staying off property. We are Harry Potter mad lol

You will love the Harry Potter area at US! My daughter is a HP nut and was completely awed. It is so immersive and so well done! We are going back to Disney and US/UIOA in 2017 and my daughter is already planning her HP time! Have a great trip!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Thank you

 

[MakiraMarlena]

agree with the Harry Potter advice - get there EARLY.

Remember the major HP rides also have single rider, so you can still ride them without a really long wait if you are willing to split up.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Have re planned our trip but not sure how to link it to this post. I guess you could search my name to find my post? Any advice (on my second plan) would be much appreciated

 

[c3h3a3r]

So, have re done my plan, removing the universal parks from the weekend days as advised. Let me know what you think. Also any suggestions what to do on departure day. We have until about 3pm I'm guessing. TIA

Weds 27th July - arrive, check in, dinner, pool, chill
Thurs 28th - MK
Fri 29th - Epcot
Sat 30th - Hollywood Studios
Sun 31st - Typhoon lagoon until 2ish, then rest
Mon 1st - IOA
Tues 2nd - IOA (if needed, rest when done)
Weds 3rd - Blizzard Beach until 2ish, then rest, possibly springs in evening
Thurs 4th - MK half day if needed
Fri 5th - AK, closes early, so early night
Sat 6th - Epcot/Hollywood studios if needed
Sun 7th - Typhoon Lagoon until 2ish, then rest
Mon 8th - Universal Studios
Tues 9th - Universal Studios if needed
Weds 10th - depart

Probably do fantasmic one night. Will visit Disney springs at some point. Will attempt to hit rope drop most days. Will aim to take a break from parks maybe around 3/4pm daily, probably to eat/rest. We are staying about ten minutes drive from Disney. Am I right in saying that if you pay to park at one Disney park, it covers you for the same say at any other Disney park?

Thanks again all

 

[c3h3a3r]

^ managed to quote it lo

 

[mds88]

Not sure about the answer to the original question, but we were there mid December and HP was very manageable in the morning. BUT I would recommend getting a locker for a few hours at the first ride you do. We just used the free hour or something like that, but it ate up A LOT of time going back and forth to the lockers before and after each ride. They are very poorly designed and it was awful trying to fight the crowds to get to the kiosks to open your locker. We took pretty much the whole morning to do HP, so the lines were pretty long elsewhere by the time we got to them. We did a lot of single rider and it worked out great, usually no more than a 10 minute wait. We did pretty much everything we wanted to do in both parks in one day (although, it would have been a lot more relaxing to do it in 2)

 

[c3h3a3r]

How much are the lockers please?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Universal has two types of lockers. All day lockers and short term lockers. An all day locker (found near park entrances/exits) is $8 for a small one and $10 for a large. The short term ones (usually found at attractions) are free for a length of time that varies with the standby line time at the attraction (40 minute attraction line will mean about 50-60 minutes locker time). After that, the charge is $3 per half hour, $20 maximum.

Use of lockers is mandatory at most thrill rides - they will not allow you to carry anything on with you. Some will allow a secured item like a "fanny pack." Some attractions (like Dragon Challenge and Forbidden Journey) will require you to take off your shoes if they are not secure, like flip flops. These attractions will allow you to leave your shoes at the platform or maybe hold them while you ride.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Great. Thanks