12/26-12/30 with EP? Still terrible idea?

[Gentry2004]

I’ve promised my kids we’ll go to Universal before we do another Disney trip. My DH would prefer not to go in summer so that leaves school breaks.

We have a looooong winter break (2 full weeks with 3 weekends) and I’d love to break it up with a few days at Universal plus maybe a Disney waterpark weather permitting. No regular Disney this trip.

If I book one of the EP hotels, how miserable will we be crowd-wise? We are experienced rope-droppers and don’t mind early mornings. We’d get whatever 2+ day bonus ticket is offered at the time with park-to-park.

I’ve done Disney up to 12/23 once and Easter week a few times.

So what day you - will we still have a good time? We could go MLK or Presidents weekend instead but would have to miss a little school which in some ways seems silly coming off a long break. So how good is EP?

Sorry for the long post. TIA.

 

[disneyinthespringtime]

Following...I am likewise trying to get a feel for what touring with an EP is like during super busy times vs normal times.

During the latter it sounds like it means you do not need to plan at all and can just do what you like with super short waits. But it sounds like that is not really the case with hyper busy times.

 

[skylock]

No matter what the crowd level, your waits with EP will be less.

I was there Thanksgiving week. Our longest wait was 20 min and that was only maybe a couple of times. Most waits were much shorter.

 

[Gentry2004]

20 minutes is about what we wait with FP+ during spring break, and those are not unlimited. So it doesn’t sound so bad. Are the quick service lines terrible?

 

[Lynne G]

We were at RPR 28 to 31 December last year. Kong and Mummy had 60 minute plus express lines in the afternoon. With some express lines sometimes not allowing more to enter. Lesser time waits for the other rides. Crowded everywhere. Rode those big rides during early entry. Only reasonable time to ride with shorter lines. Be very happy to be onsite with the express during winter break.

 

[Gentry2004]

We were at RPR 28 to 31 December last year. Kong and Mummy had 60 minute plus express lines in the afternoon. With some express lines sometimes not allowing more to enter. Lesser time waits for the other rides. Crowded everywhere. Rode those big rides during early entry. Only reasonable time to ride with shorter lines. Be very happy to be onsite with the express during winter break.

Wow, thanks. I don’t think my husband and kids will be cool with 60 minute lines. Hmmm.

 

[glamdring269]

We did this last year and it was fine. Lines are definitely longer than usual, even EP, but still manageable. Honestly the most annoying part for me was the area around Hogsmeade at night during the show... complete logistical nightmare.

 

[macraven]

Ride lines are much longer at the end of the calendar year

EP is great but like Lynne posted, ep lines have waits

Do not expect to go on Kong with only a 15 minute wait

It was 30 minutes at least when I went during a high crowd day last year

Some rides will not have extremely long waits while a few slow seating ones will

 

[Monykalyn]

We too were there Dec 26-dec30. Definitely crowds. We have the AP with after 4 EP so we mostly went in afternoons. Yeah some EP lines were definitely longer than what we normally experiece. We also found that wait times tend to be a bit exaggerated with the EP though that may not always be the case. Example: Kong broke down several times but we really wanted to ride it so when it was finally up we hopped inEP line even though TMs saying 45-60 minutes wait. We were on in ~25 minutes (I time stuff for Touring Plans when we go). Still a much longer time than other times of year. My dd and I did early entry one day mostly to do HP stuff, and I think we could have knocked out half the park without EP by 11 am.
We also did the Dessert party Universal offered last year for the parade and night time show and it was so worth it (really need to get going on a review).

 

[only hope]

Most of the year, express lines are 15mn or less. Many things are 5mn or less. Christmas to New Years is insane. I’m a local premier passholder and I went on 12/22, the Sat before Christmas last year, mostly to see the Christmas shows. I had never seen the park that busy. There were 5-15mn lines just to get a locker, and then to retrieve your stuff. TM are posted at the entrance and exit of Gringotts to tell people when they can go in. I spent 10mn getting a locker for Gringotts just to walk right back out of the queue. It was nearly all the way to the entrance- I’m guessing a 30mn wait to get to the first preshow. Same thing happened at MiB, at which point I gave up on any big rides. The express was backed up to the end of the computer room. E.T. had a temporary single riders line once you made it up to where express and regular lines normally split. From what I experienced and what I’ve read from other people’s experiences, express lines during this time are typically 30mn-60mn or longer. Express doesn’t guarantee you a short wait, just a wait of approximately 1/2 the time of standby.

The walkways were all very congested. The line to park was backed up nearly to the parking toll booths. It took me 15mn to get parked and that was with skipping most of the line to park in preferred- which was not even in its normal spot. Food and restroom lines are also long.

Personally I would avoid all major theme parks from 12/21/19-1/2/20, and I’m definitely not going back near Christmas this year.