1 day touring plan for both US and IOA

[taaren]

We are goin the first week of December and only have 1 day at UO and IOA... I got the unlimited express tickets to maximize our time, but I am thinking it may have been overkill

I went during the first week of December (Dec 10, a Monday) last year completely unexpectedly and with no plan. (Was offered tickets at the last minute by a friend who worked in the parks mid-vaca.) We went in a half hour after park opening, and with no express pass, got almost exactly what was on mommabaarjo's list done, except for Transformers because it wasn't open yet. There was no line for anything that week, according to my friend, so that time is fabulous if you can go on a weekday.

Starting at 10:30, we did:

Forbidden Journey, Flight of Hippogriff (Dueling Dragons was closed)
grabbed Butterbeer
Jurassic Park ride, Pteradon Flyers (I would include the latter as a don't miss if you have a child, its cool to see the whole park and the one thing my friend told us to do)
Lunch at the Jurassic Park place
Spiderman, pictures for my DS with Spidey, Storm ride, Hulk
Snack break

Minion
Shrek
MIB
Snack break
Mummy
Minion again

And then we left 'cause it was 5:30 and we were tired.

Because it wasn't in the original plan, we only had the one day, and I was disappointed to have missed Suessville (bc I'm a librarian) and the water rides (we didn't come prepared with panchos or proper footgear bc of lack of planning).

While I definitely think two days would have been better, and am doing that this year ... for one day in early December, we were able to accomplish a ton, whet our appetites, and get a good feel for the park.
With express tickets you'll be able to hit everything and still have time to spare!

 

[goofy78]

I asked a similar question before. Any suggestions for a touring plan for Sunday November 10? Only looking to do the "highlights" as well.

 

[KeroKero]

We've done this twice. Both parks in one day. Both low season; one the first week of Feb the other mid Sept. No Express Pass.

We get there at gate opening (coming from a Disney hotel) and start at US.
1. Despicable Me
2. Shrek
3. Twister
4. The Mummy (twice, cause there is barely a line at this time)
5. MIB (twice)
6. The Simpsons
7. ET
8. Terminator

We're generally out of US around 12:30-1:00. This upcoming trip we'll factor in an additional 30-40 minutes for Transformers and to explore the expanded Simpsons area. We skip other attractions cause they're of no interest to us, since we've been there so many times.

For IOA we head straight to WWoHP
1. Forbidden Journey (we do single rider - allowing us 2-3 rides each before we leave the park for the day)
2. Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron (usually after one right on FJ)
3. Browse WWoHP shops & grab a butterbeer.
4. Jurassic Park
5. Spiderman (twice)
*No interest in any of the other attractions, but do casually browse through the shops for fun souvenirs.

Then we're outta there. Usually by 5:30-6:30. On our Universal day we usually book an ADR at DTD around 8:30 to be on the safe side and we've never had a problem getting back for specific reservation.